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TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS AND SCHOOL READINGS 



John Brown 



WILLIAM ELSEY CONNELLEY, 

Author of "The Provisional Government of S'ebraska Territory." "James TTenry 

Lane, the Grim Chieftain of Kansas," " Wyandotte Folk-Lore,'' 

" Kansas Territorial Governors," etc., etc. 



VOLUME I. 

Sic itur ad astra. 



"From boulevards 
Overlooking both Nyanzas, 
The statured bronze shall glitter in the sun, 
With rugged lettering: 

' John Brown of Kansas : 
He dared begin ; 
He lost, 
But, losing, won.' " 

— Eugene F. Ware. 



Crane & Company, Publishers 

Topeka, Kansas 

1900 



55332 



iL it>i-Mry ef ConjrMs 
'v. Copifj Received 
OCT 2 1900 

Copyright antry 

SECOND COPY. 

l)i-'iv*r«<1 to 

OrtOtrt DIVISION, 

-OCT S O i w J 



Copyrighted by 

Crane & Company, Topeka, Kansas 

1900 



They never fail trno die 

In a great cause: the block may soak their gore. 

Their heads may sodden in the sun; their limbs 

Be strung to city gates and castle walls. 

Yet still their spirits stalk abroad. Though years 

Elapse, and others share as dark a doom, 

They but augment the deep and sweeping thoughts 

Which o'erpower all others, and conduct 

The world at last to freedom. 

—Lord Byron. 



( r o) 



For the gown? of learned Serjeants are good: parchment rec- 
ords, rixed forms, and poor terrestrial Justice, with or without 
horsehair, what sane man will not reverence these! And. yet, 
behold, the nan is not sane, but insane, who considers these alone 
as venerable. Oceans of horsehair, continents of parchment, and 
learned serjeant eloquence, were it continued till the learned tongue 
wore itself small in the indefatigable learned mouth, cannot make 
unjust just. The grand question still remains, Was the judgment 
just? If unjust, it will not and cannot get harbour for itself, or 
continue to have looting in this Universe, which was made by other 
than One Unjust Enforce it by never such statuing, three read- 
ings, royal assents: blow it to the four winds with all manner of 
quilted trumpeters and pursuivants, in the rear of them never 90 
many gibbets and hangmen, it will not stand, it cannot stand. 
From all souls of men. from all ends of Nature, from the Throne 
of God above, there are voices bidding it: Away. Away! Doe> it 
take no warning: does it stand, strong in its three readings, in its 
gibbets and artillery-parks? The more woe is to it. the frightfuler 
woe. It will continue standing for its day. for its year, for its 
century, doing evil all the while; but it has One enemy who i- 
Almighty: dissolution, explosion, and the everlasting Laws of 
Nature incessantly advance towards it: and the deeper its rooting, 
more obstinate its continuing, the deeper also and huger will its 
ruin and overturn be. — Carlyle's "Past and Present," 



(6) 



PREFACE. 



"Await the issue. In all battles, if you await the issue, each 
fighter has prospered according to his right. His right and his 
might, at the close of the account, were one and the same. He has 
fought with all his might, and in exact proportion to all his right 
he has prevailed. His very death is no victory over him. He dies 
indeed; but his work lives, very truly lives. A heroic Wallace, 
quartered on the scaffold, cannot hinder that Scotland become, one 
day, a part of England: but he does hinder that it become, on 
unfair terms, a part of it; commands still, as with a god's voice, 
from his old Valhalla and Temple of the Brave, that there be a just 
real union as of brother and brother, not a false and merely sem- 
blant one as of slave and master." — Carlyle. 

Emerson says that all history resolves itself into the 
biographies of a few strong characters. This great truth 
makes it imperative that we study the life of John Brown. 
For it is rare that a country produces a man who delib- 
erately and joyously lays down his life for a principle — 
an idea. When such a character appears among men he 
is at first maligned and misunderstood, and afterwards 
persecuted and driven. After his death the people come 
gradually to see and understand the great truths he died 
for. It becomes apparent that, after all, though in conflict 
with accredited forms and established conventionalities, 
he was right. This realization presses upon the people; 
the cause in their interest which cost human blood becomes 
vital to their existence, as the martyr insisted; and it is 
carried to a triumphant issue, not infrequently by much 
aid from those who demanded the life of the revolutionist. 

(7) 



8 PREFACE 

What message has John Brown for us to-daj ? Unless 
his life can touch and quicken in us truth, justice, and 
patriotism, it were idle to ponder it. But if we can get 
some correct comprehension of the motives by which his 
life was ordered, and it turns out that he sacrificed him- 
self for high and noble purposes, — that he only sought the 
relief of the poor, the weak and the despised, and in so 
doing only sought to bring us back to accord with laws 
both human and divine, — then his life has important 
lessons for us. 

Was John Brown, as some are inclined to say, a saint 
whose every act was just, who was incapable of doing 
wrong, who alone and unaided saved Kansas to freedom 
and America to liberty? JSTo. And we must insist that 
those who seek to sink him to the level of the criminal 
and malefactor, who distort their country's history with 
malice and venom to gratify private animosity or exalt 
a contemporary, are as much in error. The efforts of 
both are futile. Posterity comes to a right verdict on 
the actions of all. Every fact will become fully known 
that will in any way affect the verdict. In such an in- 
stance it is as impossible to conceal a wrong or suppress 
a virtue as to blot out the sun. 

John Brown was human, and as such was burdened 
with human weaknesses. That he often erred, must be 
admitted. That his faults were grievous, none knew so 
well as he himself; and his letters are full of confessions. 
He made no claim to perfection, and who would place 
him in a position so false would do him great injustice. 
He strove daily with his own shortcomings, and never 



PEEFACE if 

for a moment tried to evade the full responsibility for 
any act committed by himself or at his instance. Long 
before he left Kansas for Harper's Ferry he said with- 
out evasion or reservation that if the killing at Potta- 
watomie was murder he was not guiltless, and this was 
said without any injunction to secrecy. 

The strength of John Brown's character lies not in 
his having been always right. Xo man has ever been so. 
But it lies in his doing his duty as he saw it. He might 
and perhaps did fail in judgment, but never in intention, 
nor by evasion. In Kansas patriotic men differed from 
him in the policy to be pursued. They would have been 
satisfied with a temporary peace and any compromise 
which would have made Kansas a free State. And, in- 
deed, this would have been a great, and when accom- 
plished was, a wonderful achievement. He believed it 
his duty and the duty of every man to demand freedom 
for the whole people. He saw that we might patch a 
compromise and cry " peace ! peace ! " but that there 
would be no peace and no possibility of permanent peace 
in Kansas or any other State or Territory so long as our 
government was an absurdity — so long as we proclaimed 
freedom and practiced slavery. We had been trying com- 
promise and proclaiming peace for half a century, during 
which slavery had made conquest after conquest,— 
marched from triumph to triumph, — until those forces 
of our country resting on justice, humanity, the Declara- 
tion, the Constitution, and the Christian religion, said 
that it was useless to continue longer the deception. 
Without claiming more than that he was acting in 
obedience to God's will, John Brown represented these 



1 PREFACE 

forces for our preservation. He believed that God com- 
manded him to make war upon the wickedness of slavery. 
Not only that, he believed this command was to every 
other man. I find no evidence that John Brown assumed 
to be the only man with a divine commission to fight slav- 
ery. John Brown heeded this call; therein lies his glory. 
John Brown was right. He was a revolutionist and 
a reformer; he went back to first principles, and having 
done so, deception and temporizing became impossible 
to him. He saw the inconsistency of a government 
founded upon freedom enslaving millions of its people. 
He very properly concluded it was better that such a gov- 
ernment oease to exist altogether if it could not be brought 
to conform to its expressed and underlying principle. As 
it then existed it was a living lie. He believed that God 
called him and every other man to work as in him lay, 
to the end that our country might rise to the divine 
heights of enduring truth and become in fact what the 
fathers designed it — the beacon to lead the world to 
higher conceptions of liberty. In this world obedience to 
the call of duty and the defense of humanity are due from 
every man. How few of us respond ! And our universal 
indifference gives the greater glory to the individual who 
says in his weakness : Here am I ; send me ; I will 
do what T can. John Brown said that. In sickness 
and in health, through evil and good report, maligned 
and ridiculed, beset by poverty, surrounded by ob- 
stacles none other could have overcome, without any 
hope, desire or expectation of reward in this life, 
he toiled onward and upward in the steep and rug- 



PREFACE 



11 



ged path appointed to him. There is little doubt 
that he often saw the scaffold, or a file of soldiers 
in front of himself with a coffin at his feet, at the end 
of the way. But he turned not aside. And therein lies 
the grandeur of the character of John Brown. God had 
given him the cup, and until He let it pass it must be 
drained to the last drop. When it was plain that this cup 
contained the bitterness of death, it was given him to 
see that he was certainly right, and the power to exclaim 
with Saint Paul: "I have fought the good fight, I have 
finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth 
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which 
the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: 
and not to me only, but unto all them that love His 
appearing." 

It took the Civil War to tell us that John Brown was 
right. On the scaffold he could exclaim with Carlyle: 
" For men's hearts ought not to be set against one an- 
other; but with one another, and all against the Evil 
thing only. Men's souls ought to be left to see clearly; 
not jaundiced, blinded, twisted all awry, by revenge, mu- 
tual abhorrence, and the like. An Insurrection that can 
announce the disease, and then retire with no sucli 
balance-account opened anywhere, has attained the highest 
success possible for it." 



A word personal. The writing of this Life of John 
Brown was in the beginning assigned to our Editor, 
William M. Davidson, Esq., Superintendent of the 
Public Schools of Topeka, than whom no one is better 
qualified for the work. But Mr. Davidson found it im- 



12 



PREFACE 



possible to devote the time to it which he believed neces- 
sary to attain the highest results. Then he turned the 
work over to me, together with his results as far as he 
had gone with the matter. I have had the benefit of bis 
kindly advice and judgment, the use of his private library, 
one of the finest in the State, and am under such a debt 
of obligation to him that nothing less than this public 
acknowledgment can in any degree discbarge it, and this 
I gratefully accord him. 

My thanks are due, too, to the State Historical Society. 
Its library is one of the best in the United States, and 
is rich in documents relating to John Brown. Mr. George 
W. Martin, the efficient Secretary, placed them all at 
my service. 

I rest also under obligations to F. B. Sanborn, of Con- 
cord, Massachusetts, author of Life and Letters of John 
Brown. During his recent visit to our city we discussed 
the whole field, and since his return home he has sent me 
books and papers. 

And no less am I bound to Colonel Richard J. Hinton, 
of Brooklyn, New York. AVhile in attendance upon the 
sessions of the Annual Meeting of the State Historical 
Society we had many conferences upon this subject. He 
has, since his return home, kindly continued to assist 
me. He was one of John Brown's men, and but one 
other man now living has such a personal knowledge of 
the old hero. Colonel Hinton is the author of John Brown 
and His Men. 

Hon. D. W. Wilder, of Hiawatha, Kansas, is entitled 
to the gratitude of anyone who desires a knowledge of 
Kansas history. His Annals of Ivansas is the greatest 



PREFACE 



13 



work ever written of our State, and is an imperishable 
monument to his genius and industry. And aside from 
that I have had the benefit of his personal interest in 
this work, and his vast knowledge of the subject has been 
at all times at my disposal. 

I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to Mrs. Sara 
T. D. Robinson, of Lawrence, Kansas. She has furnished 
me much information which I could not have obtained 
elsewhere. One of the earliest and best books written 
on Kansas is her Kansas: Its Interior and Exterior Life. 
It was not the least of the causes that made Kansas free. 
And in addition to her literary work for " bleeding Kan- 
sas," she rendered other services that are a great credit 
to her head and heart, and of vast benefit to us who 
enjoy the fruits of them. 

The Rev. Thomas C. Richards, pastor of the Con- 
gregational Church in West Torrington, Connecticut, to 
which John Brown's father and mother belonged, has sent 
me valuable papers, for which I return him my thanks. 

The Historical Department of Iowa, Des Moines, sent 
me books and papers which I found indispensable in 
this work. 

Mrs. E. G. Piatt, of Oberlin, Ohio, now in the evening 
of a noble and beautiful Christian life, forgetting the 
weight of her many years, has taken her pen in hand to 
give me information. 

Major J. B. Remington, of Osawatomie, Kansas, mar- 
ried the daughter of the Rev. S. L. Adair, who was the 
brother-in-law of John Brown. He sent me the letters 
written by the old hero that yet remain in the family. 



14 PREFACE 

I have talked with a great number of persons in Kan- 
sas who were personally acquainted with John Brown. 
I mention some of them: John Armstrong, Edward P. 
Harris, G. W. W. Yates, Harvey D. Kice, and Edwin K. 
Partridge. I have profited by information imparted by 
all. I have been inspired and aided by the poetry of my 
friend Eugene F. Ware, and have had the benefit of his 
genius and research. His knowledge of Kansas affairs 
if. something wonderful. I am also indebted to my friend, 
Captain Joseph G. Waters, for many kind and useful 
suggestions. 

I feel, too, that it is due the house of Crane & Company, 

for whom this work is prepared, that I should acknowledge 

the deep interest they have taken in the collection of 

material for the use of the writer. They have ever been 

the friends of Kansas writers. They left nothing undone 

to help me make this work all that it should be. 

WILLIAM E. CONNELLEY. 
Topeka, Kansas, June, 1900. 



CHAPTER I. 

SLAVERY IN AMERICA. 



The abhorred Form 
Whose scarlet robe was stiff with earthly pomp, 
Who drank iniquity in cups of gold, 
Whose names were many and all blasphemous. 

— Coleridge. 

The origin of moral law must be sought in the dawn 
of intelligence and at that point in human progress where 
man is first conscious of human dignity. In the condi- 
tion anterior to this, man was a savage with a remote 
social instinct. He was a hunter, and prowled from the 
same necessity that impels the wolf. As war is a relation 
between state and state and not a relation between man 
and man, his conflicts in this early stage of his develop- 
ment are to be regarded as single combats, duels, and 
encounters; and in these he could capture prisoners but 
could not make them slaves. Having no occupation nor 
industry in which one held by force could be profitably 
employed, he slew his captives on the field of battle or 
reserved them for torture or sacrifice. If any escaped 
these ends, they were adopted, and became competent 
members of the victorious band or family. But death 
might not await females, for in this period of social prog- 
ress (or the want of it) whatever of labor is necessary to 
life is performed by the women. And in the animal king- 

(15) 



16 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

dom the first and chief contention between the males arises 
for possession of the females ; in even the crudest forms 
of society females may be held by force, but their deten- 
tion is not slavery as we understand the term, and their 
lot is not more wretched than that of the women born in 
the family or band holding them. 

In the path of human progress the barbarian follows 
the savage; the advance is chiefly due to the tending of 
such animals as may have been domesticated. Men are 
congregated into rude governments, the distinguishing 
features of which are patriarchal ; men are associated 
along the lines of consanguinity. Man is here nomadic, 
but usually the wanderings of a band or community do 
not extend beyond the bounds of a circumscribed and well- 
defined district; and such rovings are often to find pas- 
turage for herds and flocks. The outlines of a state are 
discernible and a rude and savage warfare is possible. 
Captives are reserved for barter to adjoining tribes, and 
a few are retained to assist in whatever of agriculture 
may be practiced ; some may be even intrusted with the 
care of animals. 

In the third period of human progress society becomes 
sedentary and man fixes himself to the soil of a particular 
locality, and in the main he keeps to this. This is the 
result of several causes; as the nomadic families and 
clans of the barbarous increase, more dependence is had 
upon the soil for existence. The warlike characteristics 
are retained, and as slaves cannot be expected to battle 
valiantly for their masters, they are forced to cultivate 
the land, and are also given care of the herds and flocks 
which the masters have deserted for war and conquest. 



JOHN BROWN 1 7 

The divine decree, " In the sweat of thy face shalt thou 
eat bread," was considered by the ancients a punishment 
of sufficient magnitude for disobedience to God's specific 
command. This judgment is founded in the nature of 
man, for in him there is no inherent love of work. Reg- 
ular and sustained labor is a characteristic which it lias 
taken man ages to acquire. "Antipathy to regular and 
sustained labor is deeply rooted in human nature, es- 
pecially in the earlier stages of the social movement, 
when insouciance is so common a trait, and irresponsi- 
bility is hailed as a welcome relief." 

Productive industry has always been the result of slav- 
ery, and has become a fixed characteristic in a people only 
after ages of labor performed by the helpless under the 
strong hand of force and oppression. Nowhere has a 
system of economics arisen by voluntary effort. When 
the decadence of force enabled the lower strata of society 
to rise and throw off their bonds, the whole community 
was compelled to work, — to unite in labor to supply the 
necessaries and wants resulting from the labor of a por- 
tion, now become indispensable to the existence of all. 
Slavery is reestablished by further conquest, or, perhaps, 
has not been allowed to become altogether obsolete. But 
as slavery presupposes the existence of a condition or state 
of war, it becomes now deleterious to the society founded 
upon the industries its presence developed. For, in the de- 
velopment of these industries human dignity appears and 
moral law is perceived; this the moral reaction of slav- 
ery tends to subvert, and if involuntary servitude is per- 
sisted in as an institution, society is thrown back on itself 



18 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

and industrial and moral development becomes impossible. 
And the mental powers being different in different indi- 
viduals, or becoming so by occupations in different indus- 
tries or by certain conventionalities instituted and im- 
posed by the masters, society divides along the line of 
mental strength or upon the basis of conventionalities, 
and this results in the enslavement of a portion of society 
by caste or custom. The accumulations of ages fall into 
the hands and under the control of a few. If the inferior 
classes escape the slavery of caste, slaves are imported, 
and the free citizens are sent to war. The property of 
the state, including the land, falls into the hands of the 
class who rule politically, and who are supported by the 
labor of the weak and the helpless. They become a class of 
idlers and cruel oppressors who lead lives of ease, indul- 
gence, and often of excess and wickedness. War is en- 
tered upon for conquest and weaker nations are enslaved 
or destroyed. In this period of human progress slavery 
becomes a curse to all classes, and must cease, or end in 
disorder or, even, the destruction of society. 

Though the evil effects of slavery always manifest 
themselves so clearly in this period of progress and are 
cried out against by the just and the humane, the interests 
of property are usually paramount to the rights of man, 
and only the most enlightened nations have abolished 
slavery. 

Only the political effects of slavery and its aid in the 
development of productive industry have been noticed 
here. The moral effects of the institution have been 
scarcely considered in the foregoing. While it must be 
admitted that politically slavery was indispensable in 



JOHN BROWN 19 

the early periods of social progress, in that productive 
industry is wholly the result of it, it is true that its moral 
effects have always been debasing and disastrous, and 
equally so to the master and the slave. It always afforded 
unusual opportunities for the indulgence of the basest 
propensities of human nature. Another evil of slavery, 
more manifest to society than the preceding one, was the 
development of tyranny. Absolute rule — the exercise of 
absolute power — is ruinous to man's nature, and the ar- 
rogance and intolerance it develops in a class are always 
subversive of patriotism. It engenders and develops all 
the brutal tendencies of unrestrained human nature. 
Flattery is sought and vanity becomes characteristic. 
True conditions of moral life become obscured, society 
becomes distorted, and tendencies to decay and demorali- 
zation are hailed as signs of social and political progress. 
The rights of others are wholly disregarded, and this 
characteristic is carried into all intercourse with institu- 
tions and states. Constraint in even its mildest forms is 
irksome, — not to be endured or even thought of, — and the 
policy of the slave-owner comes to be expressed in two 
words — rule or ruin. Reason is dethroned and tyranny 
set on the throne in the temple of human liberty. The 
voice of protest is stifled and the right of free speech 
denied. In ancient times the sages commented on "the 
little humanity commonly observed in persons accustomed 
from their infancy to exercise so great authority over 
their fellow-creatures and to trample upon human nature. 
Nor can a more probable reason be assigned for the 
severe, I might, say, barbarous manners of ancient times 
than the practice of domestic slavery, by which every 



20 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CEASSICS 



man of rank was rendered a petty tyrant, and educated 
amidst the flattery, submission, and low debasement of his 
slaves." 

Slavery was introduced into the ~Kew World by the 
Spaniards. They enslaved the natives, and in many 
places exterminated them by this barbarous system. 
Before'the discovery of America (in 1402), the Portu- 
guese had begun to enslave the Africans. One Antam 
Gonsalves captured some Moors while exploring the At- 
lantic coast of Africa, and carried them to his own country; 
Prince Henry the Navigator ordered them returned to 
their own land; and as a reward for this act of justice 
the Moors of that country gave Gonsalves ten negroes 
and some gold dust. Here was discovered by accident an 
opportunity for enterprise in a new field of commerce, and 
many Portuguese embraced it. Ports were built and 
manned along the Atlantic coast of Africa, to serve as 
bases for the slave trade. From these points many 
negroes were sent into Portugal and Spain, and their de- 
scendants were carried slaves to the Spanish and Portu- 
guese colonies in America. Early in the sixteenth cen- 
tury the King of Spain granted a patent to a favorite 
courtier, giving him the exclusive right to carry negro 
slaves to the West Indies. This patent allowed the im- 
portation of four thousand slaves per annum; it was sold 
to Genoese navigators, who procured their negroes from 
the Portuguese. The practice became from this time 
systematic, and was eagerly entered by many of the 
nations of Europe. The first Englishman to engage in 
this odious traffic was Captain John Hawkins, who 
amassed a great estate, and was knighted by Queen Eliza- 



JOHN" BROWN 



21 



beth. England had no colonies in America at that time, 
and Sir John's business was with the Spanish settlements. 
His manner of barter is said to have been somewhat arbi- 
trary. It is recorded of him that he would land with his 
human chattels at some unfortified town, train the cannon 
of his ships upon the principal buildings, and then de- 
mand that he be instantly paid so much for his human 
cargo. His conditions were complied with from necessity, 
and the bluff old Captain sailed away with great satisfac- 
tion. 

Those portions of our country acquired from Spain, or 
some of them, contained slaves before the English planted 
colonies in America. But in 1620 a Dutch ship landed 
at Jamestown, in the colony of Virginia, with slaves 
obtained on the coast of Guinea. A part of this cargo 
was sold to the tobacco-planters of Virginia. The trade 
here commenced was carried into all the colonies of Great 
Britain in America; and in 1790 Virginia contained 
two hundred thousand negro slaves. 

The greatest men of England condemned the slave trade 
in the last half of the seventeenth century, and in 1772 
Lord ]VIansfield defined the legal status of an English 
slave in his famous decision rendered for the whole bench. 
He declared that u as soon as a slave set his foot on the 
soil of the British Islands he was free." 

The first action taken in England by an organization 
or body against the slave trade was had by the Quakers, 
who declared in their meeting of 1727 that it was a prac- 
tice "not to be commended or allowed." In 1761 they 
prohibited their members from engaging in it. They 
formed an association of their members in 17So having 



22 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



for its object "the relief and liberation of the negro slaves 
in the West Indies, and for the discouragement of the 
slave-trade on the coast of Africa." The practice was not, 
however, abolished and prohibited by England until 1811. 
Denmark was the first country to abolish the loathsome 
traffic; May 16, 1792, it was decreed that it cease in the 
Danish possessions at the end of 1802. 

The Quakers in Pennsylvania advocated the abolition 
of the slave-trade before those in England considered the 
question. Their first opposition to it was formulated in 
1696; and they continued to take advanced ground upon 
the subject until 1776, when they excluded slaveholders 
from membership in their society. The United States 
finally prohibited the importation of slaves; the law was 
passed March 2d, 1807, to become effective January 1st, 
1808. 

Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Madison, Hamilton, 
and many others of the founders of the Republic opposed 
slavery and saw in it the source of evil and trouble to 
our country. Jefferson was the most active of its eminent 
adversaries. In 1784 he proposed to the Continental 
Congress a plan of government for the territory included 
now in the States of Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee, 
in which it was provided that ''after the year 1800 there 
shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any 
of said States, otherwise than in punishment for crime." 
This humane and patriotic measure was lost. The conven- 
tion which met in Philadelphia in 1787 and formed our 
Constitution was opposed to slavery. The fathers of the 
Republic there assembled would have provided for its ex- 
tinction but for the States of South Carolina and Georgia. 



JOHN BROWN 23 

Both of these States, the latter probably at the instance 
of the former, insisted upon its retention as a condition 
to their becoming members of the new Union. In the 
same year slavery had been excluded from the territory 
northwest of the Ohio river by the last Continental Con- 
gress. Slavery was gradually extinguished in the North. 
Slavery having survived the establishment of the Re- 
public, it soon became aggressive. Its tenacious depravity 
was aided by many favorable circumstances. The in- 
fluences which augmented the increasing power of the 
slave-owners and slave States are marked in our national 
growth by (1) The acquisition of Louisiana, although the 
purchase was not made in the interest of slavery; (2) The 
Missouri Compromise of 1820; (3) The annexation of 
Texas, in 1845; (4) The Fugitive Slave Law, slavery 
legalized in New Mexico, and the other measures of the 
Compromise of 1850; (5) The Kansas-Nebraska bill, 
1854.; (6) The Ostend Manifesto, 1854; (7) The at- 
tempt to reopen the slave-trade, 1859-60. While the 
measures of 1854 were in the interest of slavery, 
they precipitated the conflict which ended in its ex- 
tinction. There were many subordinate causes for the 
growth of slavery, not the least of which was the 
invention of the cotton-gin by Whitney, the profits 
of which were almost all filched from him by the 
slave States. The South apostatized from the faith 
of Jefferson, and chiefly through the efforts of Calhoun. 
The tariff was made the cause in 1828, when Calhoun de- 
clared that the resolutions of '98 inculcated the doctrine 
of secession as a remedy against obnoxious or unsatis- 
factory Federal laws. His construction was soon made 



u 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



applicable to slavery by Southern statesmen, who were 
determined to make this institution the underlying prin- 
ciple of a league or cabal for the control of the Govern- 
ment. 

tt is wonderful to realize the completeness of the infat- 
uation of tlic South with the institution of negro slavery. 
It is strange and seems almost incredible that the truth 
of history allows us to say that in this free land, up to 
1860, freedom of speech was absolutely prohibited^ more 
than one-half of it. Yet such is the fact. No minister 
dared to lift up his voice there against slavery or any of 
its evil consequences. Sermons were always prepared to 
meet the approval of the slave-owners. Mob law and 
such punishments as burning at the stake were advo- 
cated by the aristocratic press of the South as suitable 
for those who opposed their institution on its own ground. 
The non-slaveholding whites were terrorized and brutally 
hung without trial. Many persons of Northern birth 
were put to death in the South upon mere suspicion and 
without even mob trial. The Government mails were 
rifled and anti-slavery literature seized and publicly 
burned by the clergy and prominent men in public assem- 
bly. The Rev. Elijah P. Love joy was slain in Alton, 
Illinois, and anti-abolition riots occurred in many North- 
ern cities, including Boston. Never in our history have 
the arrogance and intolerance of the slave-power been 
equaled. It was boasted that the masters would again call 
the rolls of their slaves in the shadow of the Bunker Hill 
monument. Public moneys were embezzled and purloined 
to buy newspapers to speak for slavery. It was asserted 
that could Washington have returned to life he would 



JOHN BROWN 



25 



have been mobbed in Virginia. A lawyer sent from 
Massachusetts to South Carolina to perform a mission 
for the State was forced to depart from Charleston after 
a mob had been for days warning him to quit the city; he 
and his daughter were forcibly placed in a carriage, driven 
to the wharf, placed on a boat and sent away. Slavery 
was carried into our foreign relations, and we stood in 
the eyes of the world what we in fact were — a slave 
Nation. At the close of the Missouri struggle in 1820 
a Governmental policy was formulated which prevented 
the North from reaping any advantage accruing from that 
Compromise. The arable portion of the country north of 
the Compromise line in the Louisiana Purchase was as- 
signed to emigrant tribes of Indians, to be by them held 
"as long as grass grows or water runs." As opposed to 
this policy for the North, Texas was annexed to afford 
slavery a field for expansion. Cuba was coveted, and the 
slave-power committed the Government to its acquisition. 
The Mexican war brought vast territory to slavery ; and as 
a last resort the Compromise was repealed. The supreme 
tribunal of the land was made the ally of slavery, and 
announced that the institution could not be excluded by 
law from any territory in the United States. Slavery 
dominated the Government; up to 1860 the South had 
held the Presidency forty-eight years — more than two- 
thirds of the time to 1860 — eleven of sixteen terms. The 
South had seventeen of the twenty-eight Justices of the 
Supreme Court, fourteen of the nineteen Attorneys- 
General, sixty-one of the seventy-seven Presidents of the 
Senate, twenty-one of the thirty-three Speakers of the 



26 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

House, and eighty of the one hundred and thirty-four 
Foreign Ministers. 

Nature never made a fairer country nor a more fertile 
one than that portion of the United States south of Mason 
and Dixon's line. ]STo material natural resource is want- 
ing. Gold, silver, lead, zinc, copper, iron, coal, oil, build- 
ing-stone, timber, natural gas, water-power, fertile soil, 
beautiful and grand scenery, a healthful and pleasant cli- 
mate, navigable rivers in great abundance, and an ocean 
line of remarkable extent, — all these invited for the South 
an industrial development second to no other equal area 
on the globe. At the time of the adoption of the Federal 
Constitution the South was the most populous portion of 
the Union, and, too, the most prosperous and wealthy. 
In 1790 Virginia contained 748,308 inhabitants and New 
York but 340,120. The census for 1850 showed 3,097,394 
for New York and 1,421,661 for Virginia. Commerce 
made a similar transfer of preponderance. In 1791 the 
exports of Virginia amounted to $3,130,865, while those 
of New York were only $2,505,465. The figures in 1852 
were, for New York $87,484,456, and for Virginia, $2,- 
724,657, a decrease of $406,208 from the amount for the 
year 1791. The comparisons between Massachusetts and 
North Carolina, Pennsylvania and South Carolina, show 
even greater paralysis and stagnation in those Southern 
States and the same vigor and progress in the correspond- 
ing Northern States. No manufactures were established 
in the South; in fact, they were discouraged; by public 
sentiment, prohibited. 

Not alone did slavery blight agriculture and commerce 
in the South. Where the foot of the slave pressed it the 



JOHN BROWN 



27 



soil was accursed. In 1850 the value of land in New- 
Jersey was $28.76 per acre; in South Carolina, consid- 
ered the queen of the slave States, the value of land in the 
same year was one dollar and thirty-two cents per acre, 
and almost the same proportion prevailed between the 
other Northern and Southern States. 

The slaveholders were always a great minority of the 
white population of the South; but they succeeded in 
overriding and debasing the non-slaveholding whites to 
that degree that they were eliminated from any participa- 
tion in public affairs. No schools were provided, and so 
ignorant and sodden became the "poor whites" that they 
were held in contempt by even the slaves. This condition 
existed in all portions of the South, except what may be 
termed Appalachian America. Here there was a hardy 
people imbued with the principles of liberty, and who 
bitterly hated slavery. When the opportunity came they 
fought for its destruction, and they have never been in 
sympathy with the slave portion of the South. The South- 
ern planters sold their own children by slave mothers into 
slavery, and the knowledge of this fact brought no dis- 
grace. Indeed, it secured honor; for Richard M. John- 
son, of Kentucky, was elected Vice-President of the United 
States after it was publicly known that many of his chil- 
dren were slaves. Wendell Phillips said: "Virginia is 
only another Algiers. The barbarous horde who gag each 
other, imprison women for teaching children to read, pro- 
hibit the Bible, sell men on the auction-block, abolish 
marriage, condemn half their women to prostitution, and 
devote themselves to the breeding of human beings for 
sale, is only a larger and blacker Algiers." 



28 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

It will be asked why slavery was permitted and so 
fiercely fought for as to lead men to look to a dissolution 
of the Union in order to perpetuate it, if it was so great 
an evil. Slavery benefitted the individual slave-owners. 
Through it they seized all political power where the in- 
stitution existed; they were the landholders, ministers, 
merchants, and planters. By their insolent intolerance 
they moulded the sentiment of the South, and there it was 
made to favor the institution with a unanimity remark- 
able, and never before surpassed in any part of any country 
on any subject. They cared nothing for the general decay 
of their country so long as they flourished individually. 
Their white non-slaveholding neighbors increased enor- 
mously, but there was nothing for them to follow in the 
way of honorable calling, and there existed no schools for 
their children; but this was brutally disregarded, for to 
their own children would fall slaves to cultivate the soil, 
and an education in Northern colleges. They utterly 
ignored and disregarded that axiom of republican govern- 
ments, that the injury to one is the injury of the whole. 
In the South violence was done to the rights of a vast 
majority of the people, and this violence benefitted a 
class upon which it finally reacted morally, and the reac- 
tion destroyed the institution by which the wrong existed. 

Every law is the result of some social instinct in the 
nature of man. What conflicts with his nature and social 
instinct cannot long remain a law. As man is the only 
animal endowed with any considerable degree of reason, 
he is the only animal in which different environment and 
degrees of progress beget variety and modification in in- 
stinct to an appreciable degree. Progress in man modifies 



JOHN BROWN 



29 



his social instinct, and this modification makes social ad- 
vancement possible — necessary — imperative. Man will 
battle in one age to throw off and rise above what cost blood 
^nd treasure in a preceding age. There is no stationary 
ground for man socially, morally, or mentally; he must 
advance, to avoid retrocession. Institutions suited to one 
condition of society become the bane and destruction of a 
higher condition. Governments that do not learn and 
heed this law perish from the earth. We may see this 
exemplified in the tendencies of our own country under 
slavery. We founded a free government — a republican 
democracy — with slavery as an institution, an institution 
so alien to our Declaration of Independence and all our 
avowed principles and recognized tenets, that only the 
patriotism developed in our people by the War of the Revo- 
lution enabled us to survive for even a short time. In the 
generation succeeding the Revolutionary fathers, the poison 
manifested itself in symptoms of some violence. Before 
1850 the decadence of the Republic was plainly visible; 
and between 1850 and 1860 the Government was a slave 
oligarchy. From the time of the beginning of the Admin- 
istration of Jackson the nationality of the country and the 
sentiment of the people for the Union fell into a rapid 
and almost fatal decline. This may be said to have begun 
with the adoption of the Missouri Compromise. It took 
civil war to save us ; that cleared away falsehoods and 
gave us a true conception of what our Union means. It 
righted us about, and from the devious paths through the 
quagmires of nullification, State-rights, human bondage, 
and secession, brought us to the solid highway of liberty 
and nationality. Von Hoist finds slavery in a democratic 



30 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

republic to be such a political inconsistency as could only 
end in violent revolution. 

The opposition to slavery in the early days of the Repub- 
lic was of the type which tolerated it while recognizing its 
evils and its dangers to free institutions. The fathers of 
our country were opposed to it, but they feared to take 
action looking to its extinction: that step might have pre- 
vented the formation of a more perfect Union. They con- 
tented themselves with leaving to posterity their recorded 
convictions, and the hope that time would set right what 
they could not then with safety undertake. Their action 
was the choice of the least of two evils. 

No direct anti-slavery movement, or even advocate, was 
anywhere found in our country until about the year 1815. 
A New Jersey Quaker named Benjamin Lundy organized 
the ''Union Humane Society" in Wheeling, Virginia, in 
that year. So much engrossed with his work in this field 
did he become that he spent his life in it. He founded 
papers for the exposition of his views. He organized anti- 
slavery societies in the South in 1824, principally among 
the Quakers there, and visited Hayti in 1825 in the interest 
of his work. He was followed by William Lloyd Garrison, 
who was the most radical and impracticable of all the 
opponents of slavery; many opponents of the institution 
could not agree with him in either method or sentiment. 
A "Liberty party" arose, composed of men who believed 
the Federal Constitution was in spirit anti-slavery. They 
supported only such men as were in favor of "liberty for 
all," and were the most practical and effective in their 
work against slavery, of the Northern " parties." There 
were many organizations formed in the North having for 
their purpose agitation against the further extension of 



JOHX BROWN" 



31 



slavery, not so radical as the "Garrisonians" nor so liberal 
as the "Liberal party." They were never independently 
nor collectively of sufficient strength to materially influence 
public sentiment, and served more to indicate the growing 
discontent with the institution than as a means to its aboli- 
tion. The agitation commenced in the North by Lundy, 
and carried forward by those "societies" and "parties," 
bore fruit in later years. There began to be a conservative 
and independent element there that grew steadily and took 
a practical view of the situation; they did not separate 
themselves from existing parties, but sought the election 
of such men as they believed would turn every favorable 
incident to advantage and work consistently against the 
further extension of slavery. Of this great body such men 
as Lincoln, Greeley, and Giddings were leaders; their 
adherents constantly increased in numbers and influence, 
and finally in the development of events, and, fired by the 
martyrdom of John Brown, they arose in their might and 
accomplished the redemption and purification of our coun- 
try. 

By slaveholders everywhere in the South these people, 
"societies" and "parties" were called "abolitionists" indis- 
criminately. No distinctions were made; and the people 
there were taught that these Northern opponents of slavery 
were in hostility to the Christian religion and the Federal 
Constitution, and were deserving of death. In the South it 
was taught that Northern society was founded on free-love 
principles, and the text-books spoke of Northern "childless 
wives," "old maids," and "divorced women" as constitut- 
ing the female part of the population. The men of the 
North were spoken of as cowardly, hypocritical, mercenary, 
and meddlesome; it was taught and believed that one 



32 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

Southern man could easily put six "Yankees" to flight, 
and that Northern men would never fight the aggressions 
of slavery if it came to blows. The Democratic party 
stood as the champion of slavery, and from a national 
became a sectional party, seeking the supremacy of the 
" institution," or, in the event of failure in that, a sepa- 
ration from the North by means of secession. The odium 
which it cast upon the workers for the confinement of 
slavery to its bounds as fixed by the terms of the Missouri 
Compromise had its effect and innueuce in the North, and 
many persons who really favored freedom were deterred 
by it from identifying themselves with the advocates of 
liberty. 

Up to 1854 the abolition movement had accomplished 
little of practical benefit. Public sentiment was being 
slowly aroused — very slowly; the minister who preached 
the funeral sermon of John Brown in 1859 was driven 
from his charge. In the face of all the agitation and 
theory the slave-power constantly extended its prestige and 
influence. It had cause to be encouraged, and felt strong 
enough to undertake the removal of the last barrier which 
stood between it and the unsettled portion of the United 
States. In this spirit it triumphantly entered upon tho 
repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and in the accomplish- 
ment of this purpose it stood in exultation on the ruins of 
the temporizing measures devised to prohibit the intro- 
duction of slaves into the Territories. 

But it has often happened in this world that the exultant 
cry of victory and defiance was the voice that aroused 
the latent energies of a nation to a more desperate resist- 
ance. It proved so in this case. Theory and agitation 
had failed. It now came to blows in Kansas. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE POLITICAL BEGINNINGS OF KANSAS. 



We cross the prairies as of old 

The fathers crossed the sea, 
To make the West, as they the East, 

The homestead of the free. 
We go to plant the common school 

On distant prairie swells, 
And give the Sabbaths of the wilds 

The music of her bells. 
Upbearing, like the ark of God, 

The Bible in our van, 
We go to test the truth of God 

Against the fraud of man. 

— Whit tier. 

The " Platte Country " was so called from some time 
perhaps as remote as the Missouri Compromise. It 
stretched from the Indian Territory and the Missouri river 
to the summit of the Rocky Mountains and to the borders 
of British America. The name came from the great river 
crossing it from west to east to add its turbid waters to 
the yellow flood of the Missouri. It was in 1850 a vast 
plain covered with Indian tribes and buffalo — the home of 
wild men and wild animals. White men were prohibited 
from settling on this portion of the public domain, and 
the fairest and most fertile land in the West remained 
a waste. But, although without civilization, the land was 
well known. Great and ancient highways traveled these 
boundless plains. One followed the Platte up to that de- 
-3 (33) 



34 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



pression in the great mountain-chain known as South 
Pass ; here it divided, and separated into two ways. One 
of these followed western waters down to the Great Salt 
Lake Valley, and from thence across the burning sand- 
wastes, over plains of sage, cactus and grease-wood, up 
mountain ranges till the clouds were below, and down 
golden waters to the fair valleys of California. The other 
branch followed over rocky fastnesses, along and across 
deep and winding rivers, into wilderness wastes, over 
ragged and lava-scorched mountains to the green valley 
of the Willamette, in Oregon, and down the mighty Co- 
lumbia to the shores of the Pacific ocean. The other 
"ancient way" was the "Old Santa Fe Trail," famous in 
romance and song, and leading from the mouth of the 
Kansas river across the plains and through the mountains 
to the land of the Montezumas. Along these plains high- 
ways rolled a commerce; the migration of the Mormons 
and the discovery of gold in California sent over them 
mighty streams of humanity. 

By the Missouri Compromise the " Platte Country " 
was dedicated and set apart to human liberty ; it was never 
to be polluted nor pressed by the foot of the slave. For 
this reason the Government, in the hands of the slave- 
owners, had removed it from the roll of lands upon which 
the people might enter and build homes. This removal 
was effected with plausibility; the land was assigned to 
tribes of eastern Indians 2 who held it by virtue of solemn 
treaties which guaranteed that neither they nor the tracts 
by them occupied should ever become part of any State 
or Territory to be organized by the United States. But so 
absurd became this policy of prohibition that even the 



JOHN BROWN 35 

Indians came to oppose it. In 1852 they began the agita- 
tion for the removal of restrictions which resulted in the 
formation of a provisional government for the country, 
which they called Nebraska. Clamor for the removal of 
the restrictions resulted, and the representatives of the 
provisional government knocked for admission to the halls 
of Congress. The pressure of home-seekers upon the 
borders of the beautiful and forbidden land became tre- 
mendous. Public sentiment, led by the owners of the soil, 
was fast coining to demand that the country be opened to 
settlement. This sentiment Avas not confined to the free 
States ; the people of some of the slave States, Missouri 
especially, were eager to have permission to establish them- 
selves on the fair and fertile plains of Nebraska. On this 
account the provisional government received encourage- 
ment from that portion of the Missouri people reposing 
confidence in the leadership of Senator Benton. But as 
there was no available tract of country in that portion of 
the unsettled public domain surrendered to slavery to be 
opened to settlement to counterbalance the " Platte Coun- 
try " should the restrictions to its settlement be removed, 
to allow its organization would be giving an advantage to 
freedom. By the Missouri Compromise this land right- 
fully belonged to the principles of freedom, and had been 
relinquished by the advocates of slavery thirty years be- 
fore; but it was resolved to now make an effort to regain 
at least a portion of the domain then lost. 

A new tenet had been recognized in the compromise of 
1850; it permitted the people of a Territory applying for 
admission as a State to determine for themselves the nature 
of their institutions, and to legalize or prohibit slavery as 



36 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

they might choose. When the Nebraska question came up 
for discussion the slave-power contended that this principle 
abrogated the Missouri Compromise. The bills for the 
organization of Nebraska Territory were cast aside, and a 
bill providing for the formation of two Territories from the 
domain of the " Platte Country " was substituted for them. 
This bill declared the Missouri Compromise inoperative 
and void, and affirmed the application of the principle of 
the compromise of 1850 to the proposed Territories in 
explicit terms. The struggle was long and bitter, and no 
less so in Congress than in the country at large. The 
South was properly charged with bad faith, and the matter 
was discussed by every newspaper in the land — by citizens 
in private walks and in public assemblies. Ministers ev- 
erywhere made it the subject of sermons — often objurga- 
tory and vituperative in the North, always complimentary 
and commendatory in the South. But in the struggle the 
South had the advantage ; she was perfectly united, and 
by seizing upon the personal ambitions and demagogical 
propensities of Northern politicians created and main- 
tained a considerable sentiment in its favor in that part 
of our country where slavery was abhorred. She had 
looked forward to this very contingency, and fortified her- 
self in the White House; Pierce was compelled to commit 
himself without reserve to the policy declared in the 
Kansas-Nebraska bill, in order to attain the Presidency. 
It was with great satisfaction, therefore, that he approved 
the Kansas-Nebraska bill on the 30th day of May, 1854. 
The result of this struggle was despondency in the North 
and exultation in the South. Slavery regarded the vic- 
tory won as in fact a compromise on the same lines gov- 



JOHN BROWN 



37 



erning the admission of States into the Union in the early 
days of the Government, when equilibrium of Congres- 
sional representation was maintained by the admission of 
one slave and one free State at the same time. On this 
principle two Territories were formed instead of one, and 
the South claimed the slave State — Kansas, and conceded 
the free State — Nebraska. The South was well equipped 
to enter the contest for the consummation of this design. 
On the east Kansas joined a slave State— Missouri. The 
western counties of Missouri contained a large population 
possessing many slaves, and an intense sentiment and de- 
sire for the extension of slavery into Kansas. This condi- 
tion was largely relied upon in the formulation of the 
Kansas-Nebraska plan. It was believed that the citizens 
of Missouri would at once migrate to the new Territory 
and seize all . the choice lands before people from a 
greater distance could arrive. To facilitate this action the 
Government concluded secret treaties with the Indian 
tribes owning the land in the eastern portion of the Terri- 
tory, wherein the greater part of the best land was to be at 
once opened to settlement; and the representatives of the 
slave-power in Missouri were apprised of the conclusion 
of these treaties long before their public proclamation. 
And other slave States were expected to contribute largely 
of their inhabitants with their slaves to form the popula- 
tion of the new Territory organized in the interest of 
slavery. 

But, "the best-laid schemes o' mice and men gang aft 
a-gley." Missouri failed to meet the expectations enter- 
tained of her, because there was no pressing demand in 
her western counties for land. These counties were yet 



38 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

new, and the people had not more than accomplished the 
subjection of the forest and prairie; land was cheap, and 
no great sum could be realized from its sale. When it 
was known that people from the free States intended to 
contest for Kansas, the people owning slaves in Missouri 
became averse to jeopardizing their property by carrying 
it to a Territory which might in the end destroy its value. 
The institution proved too clumsy and too much of a 
weight to be readily removed from States at a greater 
distance. 

The despondency of the North was temporary, and dis- 
appeared after a brief period following the passage of the 
Kansas-Nebraska hill. In New England this reaction 
was largely sentimental. In the free States of the Ohio 
Valley it was intensely aggressive and practical. People 
from Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana were in Kansas be- 
fore the bill had finally passed. When it was known that 
it had become a law, people from western New York and 
Pennsylvania, and from all the States made from the old 
Northwest Territory, set their faces towards Kansas with 
the avowed intention of building themselves homes and of 
making the Territory a free State. The people of Mas- 
sachusetts turned their sentiment to practical use, and 
other New England States followed the example. The 
Emigrant Aid Company was formed to carry out the 
policy announced by William H. Seward in the debate of 
the bill in the United States Senate. Eli Thayer was 
the principal mover in this organization, which became a 
potent factor in making Kansas a free State. It was 
largely due to his efforts that the sentimental opposition 
to the bill in New England was given some practical 



JOHN BROWN 39 

direction and form. Societies like that projected by him 
were formed in other New England States, and, indeed, 
in other parts of the North. While it must be admitted 
that they accomplished great good for Kansas and the 
country, it is true that their organization' first alarmed the 
South, and many of the outrages perpetrated by the border 
ruffians were inspired by their hostility to Northern emi- 
grant aid societies. Similar organizations were formed 
in the South in the interest of slavery; in Missouri it was 
claimed that their organization was for the purpose of 
counteracting those of the North ; they were called " Blue 
Lodges," " Social Bands," " Friends' Societies," and 
" The Sons of the South." ' 

The result of the ])assage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill 
was to localize for a time, and to transfer to Kansas, the 
preliminary battle in the final contest between freedom 
and slavery. The forces on each side were stirred to effort. 
The resources of each section were drawn upon to advance 
respective interests and pave the way to ultimate victory, 
of which the South was sanguine and the North hopeful. 
In the actual conflict in Kansas, the South, flushed with 
victory in Congress and animated with impatience of re- 
straint, intolerance, and a fanatical but distorted faith 
in the justice of her cause, was always the aggressor. The 
Northern emigrant was proclaimed an abolitionist, what- 
ever his political faith or however tolerant his views. 
No discriminations were made. Abolitionists were de- 
nounced in Kansas, as they had been everywhere in the 
South, as the enemies of society, religion, humanity, and 
the Union. Of rights they were supposed not to have any, 
and they were to be accorded none in Kansas. Their lives 



40 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

were considered as forfeited here, as in the South, and the 
Pro-Slavery settlers were urged to destroy them. The 
partisans of freedom soon came to be called Free-State 
men; the advocates of slavery were known by various 
names: Pro-Slavery men, Law and Order men, and Na- 
tional Democrats. But the people of Kansas bestowed 
upon them the name, Border Ruffian. Many of the more 
depraved characters among them came to glory in this 
term, but there were many good people in the slavery 
ranks, and they were opposed to violence at all times. 
They were allowed little part in the formulation of the 
course in Kansas in the interest of slavery. Those in 
power and the great majority of those who came to Kansas 
were noisy, violent, aggressive, brutal and murderous from 
the very first. Some of the outrageous conduct of these 
slavery partisans is enumerated: J 

As early as the 6th of October, 1854, Westport sent a 
large body of men with arms, and banners decorated with 
strange devices and violent and threatening legends, to 
break up the Free-State settlement of Lawrence. In the 
most violent and horrible oaths possible of expression in the 
English language they ordered the "abolitionists" to strike 
their tents and leave the Territory. The settlers showed 
the "eyes and teeth" of courage, and the presumptuous 
invaders were so astonished at the exhibition of bravery 
in "Yankees" that they returned home swearing wicked 
oaths of what they would do when they returned at the 
end of a week with a larger force. 

The first elections were scenes of violence and disorder. 
Long lines of whisky-sodden ruffians wound their sev- 



JOHN BROWN ^1 

eral ways about the prairies and along the streams of 
Kansas, took armed possession of the polls and voting- 
places, cast thousands of illegal votes, perjured themselves 
by certifying to fraudulent election returns, and returned 
in a drunken frenzy to their homes in Missouri. At 
Leavenworth a Free-State election clerk named Wetherell 
complained because a youth who said he was but nineteen 
was allowed to vote, on the qualification of having a claim 
in Kansas ; he said he lived in Missouri. He was allowed 
to cast nine votes for residents of Missouri who were not 
present, but who, so the youth said, had claims in the 
Territory. At this easy manner of exercising the rights 
of suffrage Wetherell declared that the election was a 
fraud. Charles Dunn was the chief ruffian present, and 
hearing the remark of the clerk, seized him by the head, 
dragged him from the building through the window with 
great bodily injury, fell upon him, in company with other 
ruffians, beat and kicked him in a shamefully brutal man- 
ner, and left him for dead. 

In the same city a vigilance committee was formed at 
a meeting addressed by the Chief Justice of the Territory 
on the 30th of April, 1855. The resolutions adopted 
warned "all persons not to come to our peaceful firesides 
to slander us, and sow the seeds of discord between the 
master and the servant"; and the duty of the committee 
was defined in the following explicit language : "All such 
persons as shall by the expression of abolition sentiments 
produce a disturbance to the quiet of the citizens or danger 
to their domestic relations, shall be notified and made to 
leave the Territory." 

Mr. William Phillips, a lawyer, and by all reports a 



42 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

brave and good citizen, lived at the time in Leavenworth, 
and soon became amenable to this power of the committee. 
A mob seized him and carried him to Weston, Mo. There 
one-half his head was shaved as were the heads of convicts 
in the dark ages ; he was stripped of his raiment, tarred 
and feathered, ridden on a rail, had a halter put on his 
neck by which he was led to the block, and by a negro 
cried to the highest bidder and sold for one-fourth of one 
cent. He was allowed to return home, but was soon after- 
ward murdered in his own house by a band of "law and 
order" men styling themselves "Territorial militia," and 
commanded by Frederick S. Emory; his sole offense was 
lils refusal to leave the town of Leavenworth at the mob's 
bidding. 

One of the most brutal and wanton murders ever com- 
mitted in the Territory was that of Rees P. Brown. He 
was a resident of Leavenworth county, and had been to 
the polls at the village of Easton to attend the election 
for State officers under the Topeka Constitution. As he 
and a number of other Free-State men were returning 
home they were met by Captain Charles Dunn, one of 
the most rabid ruffians that ever cursed the border. They 
were taken back to Easton and confined in a store; all 
but Brown were allowed to escape. A mob broke into 
the building in which Brown was confined and struck 
him several times in the face with a hatchet. The assault 
was made by one Gibson. He was thrown into a lumber 
wagon, where he remained for seven hours while his 
captors were drinking at a doggery, the weather being at 
the time bitterly cold. He was taken home and dragged 
from the wagon to the frozen ground ; he was cast into 



JOHN BROWN 



43 



the cabin with the words, " Here is Brown ! " He died 
in about three hours, and the brutality he had suffered 
made his wife a maniac. 

A Pro-Slavery man in Leavenworth made a bet that he 
could in two hours bring in the scalp of an abolitionist. A 
young German was just returning to town after having 
taken his wife to visit her sister in Lawrence. The 
ruffian shot him, and he fell from his carriage; then the 
murderer scalped him and triumphantly returned with his 
reeking trophy to claim his winning, which was a pair of 
boots, against which he had bet six dollars. He was after- 
wards tried for murder, and acquitted ! 

The paper of Stringfellow, published at Atchison, con 
tained a standing notice that abolitionists would be 
lynched if they dared to " pollute our soil." 

Lut the ne phis ultra of ruffian outrage and villainy 
was attained in the enactment of the infamous code known 
as the Bogus Laws, by the Legislature fraudulently se- 
lected by the election at which the outrages before spoken 
of occurred, and known in history as the Bogus Legisla- 
ture. One of these statutes provided that any person 
daring to discuss the question of the establishment of 
slavery in Kansas, or ''whether it exists or does not exist" 
there, should be imprisoned at hard labor for at least two 
years — the maximum term not fixed ; it might be ninety- 
nine years. By this code no man could serve on a jury 
who was opposed to slavery. It contained many laws of 
the same nature ; and that certain indication of tyranny — 
the appointment of all county and township officers by the 
Legislature or executive — was fixed upon the people, who 
were thus divested of the right of local self-government. 



44 



TWENTIETH CENTUKY CLASSICS 



Andrew H. Reeder, of Pennsylvania, was appointed the 
first Governor of the Territory; and his administration 
was one continuous struggle against the ruffians and min- 
ions of the slave-power for some semblance of right and 
justice for the people. His efforts in this direction were 
resented at Washington, and he was removed from office. 
He remained for a time in the Territory, and assisted in 
the founding of the Tree-State party and became its first 
candidate for Delegate to Congress. He was defeated by 
fraud, and contested the election; the result was the ap- 
pointment of a committee to investigate Kansas affairs. 
This committee was virtually driven from the Territory 
by the ruffians ; but it formulated a report which contains 
more than a thousand printed pages of the outrages against 
liberty and the free people of Kansas. Reeder was forced 
to fly to escape assassination at the hands of the principal 
ruffian of Leavenworth county acting for the slave-power. 

Upon the removal of Reeder, Wilson Shannon was ap- 
pointed Governor. His weakness and his cringing and 
obsequious sycophancy resulted in the outrages committed 
in the Wakarusa war, and, finally, in anarchy. The 
murder of Free-State men became so common that it 
ceased even to cause comment. Governor Shannon was 
himself compelled to seek safety from assassination in 
flight; he reported that dead bodies lay thickly all along 
all the Territorial highways. 

Thus, chaos, anarchy, confusion and disorder in Kansas 
resulted from the efforts of the Government to force 
human bondage upon the people. Nevertheless, emigrants 
from the free States continued to arrive. The foregoing 
description will serve to show to some degree the disor- 



JOHN BROWN 45 

dered and unsettled condition of society into which they 
came, and that their lives were forfeited the minute they 
set foot in Kansas. They were subjected to many indig- 
nities while passing through Missouri ; and the pirates 
and ruffians there finally closed the Missouri river in the 
hope that they would thereby be deterred from attempting 
to reach the Territory. But these crusaders for freedom 
were made of sterner stuff. They turned to the north, 
and came into the Mecca of their faith by the way of 
Iowa and Nebraska. 

There was in those days living in Ohio and New York 
a most remarkable family — that of John Brown. So im- 
portant was the work of this family in the emancipation 
of the slaves of America, that a recent and eminent writer 
upon the subject assigns it the fourth place in the causes 
which resulted in their freedom. In the fall of 1854 five 
of the sons of John Brown determined to remove to Kansas 
to make themselves homes and assist in making it a free 
State. They were bred to rugged industry and self- 
reliance, and were inured to hardship, scant living, high 
thinking and right conduct before God and man. They 
came to labor, to till the soil, to erect houses, to plant and 
tend vineyards and orchards and to rear cattle, — to devote 
themselves to the peaceful pursuits of the farm. They 
brought with them their young fruit trees and grapevines, 
their plows and reaping-hooks, their tents and their cattle. 
They set out from the Western Reserve, in Ohio, where 
they then lived and where they had been born, in the fall 
of 1854, with their cattle, and got as far as Meredosia, 
Illinois. Here the brothers, Owen, Frederick and Salmon, 



46 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



remained to care for the cattle through the winter, and 
when spring came they drove them overland into Kansas. 
The brothers, Jason and John, jr., came by steamer down 
the Ohio river and to St. Louis. At this point they and 
their families took passage on a boat bound for the Terri- 
tory. It was crowded with people "mostly from the South, 
;is was plainly indicated by their language and dress; 
while their drinking, profanity, and display of revolvers 
and bowie-knives — openly worn as a part of their make-up 
— clearly showed the class to which they belonged, and 
that their mission was to aid in establishing slavery in 
Kansas." Cholera appeared on the boat, and a number 
of passengers died; among them, Austin, the little son 
of Jason Brown. The brothers and their families went 
ashore at the panic-stricken town of Waverly, Missouri, 
at night, in a furious thunder-storm, to commit to the 
earth the body of their child; and without warning the 
boat cast off and continued her way without them. 
They were left to make their way to Kansas City as best 
they could, and were compelled to complete their journey 
by stage. 

These brothers arrived very early in the spring of 1855. 
If they were too late to see the ruffians come over from 
Missouri to carry the election, they arrived while that 
outrage was fresh in the minds of the people. They all 
selected claims some ten miles from Osawatomie, near 
that of their uncle, the Rev. S. L. Adair. Their farms 
did not adjoin, for claims were then selected with a view 
to secure some timber ; but they were not far apart, and a 
circuit of two miles would have inclosed them all. They 
succeeded in raising something, though little, the first year. 



JOHN BUOWX 



47 



But the political turmoil and the merciless persecutions of 
the Free-State men raged during the summer. The usur- 
pation of the government by the Missourians and their 
enactment of the bogus laws could not be tamely submitted 
to by a people loving liberty and coming from a country 
where the laws were for all and obeyed by all. It was 
generally agreed by the Free-State settlers that they could 
not submit to all these laws. It was apparent that it was 
intended that the laws should make it impossible for 
Free-State people to remain in Kansas. As the newspa- 
pers along the border of Missouri were teeming with 
threats and inflammatory articles, it was believed that 
trouble would arise as soon as the crops ceased to engross 
the attention of the people. The part of prudence de- 
manded that the Free-State men be prepared to protect 
themselves from assault. The Browns early identified 
themselves with the movement to organize and make effect- 
ive the anti-slavery forces in the Territory. On the 8th 
of June, 1855, some of them attended the Free-State meet- 
ing in Lawrence, and John Brown, jr., was a member of 
the committee on resolutions. He and his brother Fred- 
erick were delegates to the Big Springs Convention, and 
assisted there to form the Free-State party. 

Early in the summer John Brown, jr., wrote his father 
the conditions existing in the Territory, and requested him 
to procure arms for their defense and send them on to 
Kansas. John Brown was then living at jSTorth Elba, 
New York. He attended an anti-slavery or abolition con- 
vention at Syracuse, in that State, in the latter part of 
June, Here he made a "very fiery speech, during which 



48 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

he said lie had four sons in Kansas, and had three others 
who were desirous of going there, to aid in fighting the 
battles of freedom. He could not consent to go unless 
armed, and he would like to arm all his sons; but his 
poverty prevented him from doing so. It had not been 
his intention to go to Kansas. In a letter to his son John 
almost a year before he had said : " If you or any of my 
family are disposed to go to Kansas or Nebraska, with a 
view to help defeat Satan and his legions in that direction, 
I have not a word to say ; hut I feel committed to operate 
in another part of the field. If I were not so committed, 
I would be on my way this fall." His attendance upon 
the Syracuse convention appears to have changed this de- 
termination; perhaps he met there persons with whom he 
was "committed" to labor in some different part of the 
field, and after discussion it was agreed that Kansas was 
as inviting and promising as any field for the time being 
need be. His appeal to the convention for arms and 
means to reach the Territory seems to have resulted to his 
satisfaction, for he wrote his wife : " I have reason to 
bless God that I came. I met with a most warm recep- 
tion . . . a most hearty approval of my intention 
of arming my sons and other friends in Kansas." Some- 
thing more than sixty dollars was given him ; and it is 
very probable that other and further contributions were 
sent him before he left New York for the Territory. 

He set out for Kansas sometime in August, accom- 
panied by his son-in-law, Henry Thompson. His son 
Oliver was then at Rockford, Illinois, and he was taken 
along, and wrote to his mother that he hoped to see them 
all in Kansas in a year or two. They wrote from Chicago 



JOHN BROWN. 



49 



that they had there purchased "a nice young horse for 
$120, but have so much load that we shall have to walk 
a good deal — enough probably to supply ourselves with 
game." From a point in Scott county, Iowa, "about 
twenty miles west of the Mississippi," he wrote his wife 
that their load was heavy and they walked much. They 
fared "very well on crackers, herring, boiled eggs, prairie 
chicken, tea, and sometimes a little milk. Have three 
chickens now cooking for our breakfast. We shoot enough 
of them on the wing as we go along to supply us with 
fresh meat. Oliver succeeds in bringing them down quite 
as well as any of us." He further says : " We hope our 
money will not entirely fail us ; but we shall not have any 
of account left when we get through." They expected "to 
go direct through Missouri." This letter contains the 
remarkable statement : " I think, could I hope in any other 
way to answer the end of my being, I would be quite con- 
tent to be at North Elba." He believed with his whole 
soul that God had appointed him to make war on slavery, 
and in no other way could he hope to answer the end of 
his being. To answer this call he surrendered the com- 
forts of domestic happiness, the ease so much coveted by 
men of his age, anything like a competency for increasing- 
years, and set forth on a journey long and toilsome, and 
in which he "walked much," to join a heroic band of 
froodom-loving men and women engaged then in fighting 
back the foul institution of human bondage threatening to 
engulf them on the plains of Kansas. In that sentence 
is the key and explanation of the character of John Brown. 
They arrived at the " Brown settlement " on the 6th 
of October, and found all "more or less sick or feeble 



50 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

but Wealthy and Johnny." The entire party had but 
sixty cents when they arrived. And — strange man, this 
Brown! — while anxious to battle to the death with the 
powers of slavery and darkness, and determined to shed 
blood if need be, and fully realizing that his own blood 
might be required, as well as that of his children, he was 
as sensitive to the touch of love and sympathy as is a 
mother to the cry of her babe. No mother ever carried 
more tenderness in her soul for her children than John 
Brown bore in his heart for suffering of every kind. His 
whole being responded to the grief of those who mourned. 
On this weary journey he remembered that his daughter- 
in-law had left the light of her life in an unmarked and 
lonely grave on a hill washed by the yellow tide of the 
Missouri. He turned aside to seek the lowly grave ; he 
lifted from it the tiny body of his grandson, and carried 
it with him to the free land of Kansas to gladden the 
heart of her that wept. All summer she had borne such 
grief as only a mother who has lost her child can feel. 
The parents had written: "We fully believe that Austin 
is happy with his Maker in another existence ; and if there 
is to be a separation of friends after death, we pray God 
to keep us in the way of truth, and that we may so run our 
short course as to be able to enjoy his company again. 
Ellen feels so lonely and discontented here without Austin, 
that we shall go back to Akron next fall if she does not 
enjoy herself better." 

What manner of people are these Browns, old and 
young, to whom the world seems a sort of temporary 
stopping-place; who are continually seeking the sustain- 
ing arm of a higher power; who never fail to commend 



JOHN BROWN 51 

one another to God; who realize their weakness and ask 
strength only from Him who is able to give ; who struggle 
in poverty to do the work a nation has neglected? Ah! 
these are questions which John Brown answered with his 
life on a scaffold in the beautiful mountains of Virginia ! 



CHAPTER III. 

THE BROWNS— A FAMILY OF PIONEERS. 



The priest-like father reads the sacred page. 

How Abram was the friend of (4od on high; 
Or, Moses hade eternal warfare wage 

With Amalek's ungracious progeny: 
Or how the royal bard did groaning lie 

Beneath the stroke of Heaven's avenging ire: 
Or Job*s pathetic plaint, and wailing cry; 

Or rapt Isaiah's wild seraphic fire; 
Or other holy seers that tune the sacred lyre. 

— Bums' s "The Cotter's Saturday Night." 

Peter Brown was an Englishman; lie was a. Puritan, 
and one of the Pilgrim Fathers who landed on Plymouth 
Rock, December 22d, 1620. In even that early age he 
was a crusader for political and religious liberty, lie 
was by trade a carpenter, and of his life we know little 
more than has been already here told. But that he loved 
liberty and hated tyranny is fully established by his action 
in coming to America to brave the forces of the untamed 
wilderness on the bleak shores of rock-bound Xew Eng- 
land, when he might have remained in his native land in 
ease and peace had he chosen to conform outwardly to what 
his conscience condemned. That the evils under which he 
lay in his native land might be slowly reformed and 
finally corrected, was not enough for him. We see in the 
action of the Pilgrims in their migration to a primeval 

(52) 



JOHN BROWN. 53 

land the uncompromising spirit which moved the old 
prophets to exhort those who had "not bowed the knee to 
Baal" to "come out of her, O my people." 

Peter Brown, the Pilgrim, married; and to him was 
born in 1632 a son, called, also, Peter Brown. The son 
married Mary Gillett, in 1658, and died in 1692, leaving 
four sons. The second son was named John, and he 
married Elizabeth Loomis in the year of his father's death. 
His second son was also named John; he married Mary 
Eggleston, and one of his sons, born November 4, 1728, 
was named John. This third John Brown married 
Hannah Owen in 1758; she was the daughter of John 
Owen, a native of Wales, who had sought broader oppor- 
tunities and greater freedom in the New World. He was 
one of the first settlers of Windsor, Connecticut, where 
he was a good citizen and held as a man of worth and in- 
tegrity to the end of life. The sons of John and Hannah 
(Owen) Brown were John, Frederick, Owen, and Abiel. 
In the war of the Revolution John Brown heeded the 
call of his country, and, disregarding his personal conven- 
iences and interests, left the peace and quiet of private 
walks and joined the army of the patriots. He was chosen 
Captain of the trainband of West Simsbury, Connecticut, 
and sent to join the American army, then in New York. 
At the end of two months he was seized with a fatal illness 
and died in a barn, September 3, 1776, and was buried 
on the Highlands "near the western bank of East river." 
He, too, might have remained at home, a defender of 
accredited and established order, could he have reconciled 
his conscience to a course so unpatriotic and unjust; he 
could have been protected, and might have been carried to 



54 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

England and there made the recipient of royal favors, as 
others were. But he saw a duty and chose liberty for him- 
self and others and resolved to battle for it as stoutly as 
he might though hung for a traitor, as he would have been 
had the cause failed and he had lived. He left a widow 
and eleven children. 

Owen Brown, the son of the Revolutionary hero, mar- 
ried Ruth Mills. She was a teacher, and came of illus- 
trious ancestry, descending from a long line of God-fearing- 
men, ministers of the gospel, and Revolutionary soldiers. 
The family was founded by Peter Mills, an emigrant 
from Holland to Connecticut, and was one of the first in 
that stable, solid, patriotic, and enterprising common- 
wealth. Owen Brown was a tanner and shoemaker, and 
lived at different places in Connecticut to the year 1805, 
when he removed to Hudson, Ohio, in the Western Reserve. 
This was in fact a New Connecticut, and no equal area of 
our country has surpassed it in patriotic devotion to liberty 
or enterprise in productive industry. It has stamped the 
impress of its high purposes upon the civilization of the 
entire West. This is the result of the just principles, 
the upright lives, the rigid morality, and the uncompro- 
mising stand for the right and hostility to evil carried here 
by the sons of old Connecticut to serve as foundations 
for their institutions to be erected in the Western wilder- 
ness. 

Owen Brown first came to the Western Reserve in 1804, 
on a tour of observation, a journey preliminary to his 
final removal. He made his way with his family, in 1805, 
through Pennsylvania with an ox team. Hardships inci- 
dent to pioneer life beset Owen Brown. His wife died 



JOHN BROWN 



55 



and he was subsequently married, and his second wife 
dying, he took a third. He had a large family. One of 
his sons, Salmon, "died in New Orleans with yellow fever. 
He was a lawyer, and editor of a French and English 
newspaper called the 'New Orleans Bee.' ' 

The remarkable things to be observed of Owen Brown 
are, the pure and exalted Christian life he led, and the 
principles and purposes he instilled into his children. 
He " became acquainted with the business people and 
ministers in all parts of the Western Keserve." In his 
own account of his life he says: "In 1807 (Feb. 13) 
Frederick, my sixth child, was born. I do not think of 
anything else to notice but the common blessings of health, 
peace, and prosperity, for which I would ever acknowledge 
the goodness of God with thanksgiving." He was a man 
of strong attachments. Forty years after the death of his 
wife, Ruth, he writes : " These were days of affliction. 
The remembrance of this scene makes my heart bleed now."' 
He was a home-lover : "I would say that the care of our 
families is the pleasantest and most useful business we 
can be in." The absence of a child caused him to suffer: 
"About this time my son Salmon was studying law in 
Pittsburg. I had great anxiety and many fears on his 
account." With Owen Brown the things of this life were 
counted as but dross : " I can say the loss or gain of 
property in a short time appears of but little consequence; 
they are momentary things, and will look very small in 
eternity." The justice of God as well as His mercy re- 
mained always before him: "January 29, 1832, my son 
Watson died, making a great breach in my family. He 
did not give evidence in health of being a Christian, but 



56 TWENTIETH CENTUEY CLASSICS 

was in great anxiety of mind in his sickness; we some- 
times hope he died in Christ." At the age of seventy- 
eight he writes: " I have great reason for thanksgiving." 
He was a lifelong abolitionist. In 1850 he wrote: "lam 
an abolitionist. I know we are not loved by many; 
I have no confession to make for being one." Every 
act of his life was ordered in the light he drew from the 
Scriptures and his Christian experience. A few months 
before his death he wrote his son John : " I feel as 
though God was very merciful to keep such a great sinner 
on probation so long. I ask all of you to pray more ear- 
nestly for the salvation of my soul than for the life of my 
body, and that I may give myself and all I have up to 
Christ, and honor him by a sacrifice of all we have." 
His family remained unbroken, though widely scattered 
and often invaded by death. He writes his son : " I con- 
sider all my children in Kansas as one family." He was 
afflicted with stammering or a stoppage in his speech; 
on this acount it was very painful to strangers to hear him 
talk. But there was one place where this defect disap- 
peared: in the services of the church, in his prayers, he 
was eloquent from fervency, and "his tongue was loosed" 
and he "spake with power." His life is fittingly described 
in the words, " He walked in the fear and admonition 
of the Lord." 

To this humble and devout man who lived daily in the 
sight of God and abased himself continually that his Master 
might not refuse to exalt him, was born a son while he yet 
lived in his native State of Connecticut. He notes this 
in the simple annals of his life: "In 1800, May 9, John 
was born, one hundred years after his great-grandfather." 



JOHN BROWN 57 

This son was John Brown, afterwards the liberator of the 
lowly, despised, oppressed and enslaved, and the martyr 
for a more perfect Union. Some one has said that the first 
requisite of greatness is to be born right. Another has 
said that the first indication of genius in a man is mani- 
fested in the selection of his parents. Still another has 
said that the time to begin to educate a child is a 
hundred years before it is born. The biographer of a 
great man has said : "I do not think a great man ever 
lived who was not born of a strong, naturally intellectual, 
poetic and emotional mother." As much as John Brown 
owed to his father, he owed still more to his mother. She 
was a woman of superior intelligence, deep and profound 
religious convictions, emotional, and of great strength of 
character. Her husband wrote of her : "About this time I 
became acquainted with Ruth Mills (daughter of Rev. 
Gideon Mills), who was the choice of my affections ever 
after, though we were not married for more than two years. 
In March, 1793, we began to keep house; and here was 
the beginning of days with me." We have seen that she 
was descended from a Hollander who was early in Con- 
necticut. The solid and enduring qualities of the Teuton 
were quickened and intensified in America, and enriched 
the character of the mother of John Brown. She died 
while he was yet a child, but his recollection of her was 
clear ; and the memory of her justice as well as of her love 
remained to him a priceless heritage. So complete was 
her influence over him and his love for her that he never 
ceased to feel her loss. In his " Life " written for the 
little son of George L. Stearns, he says : "At eight years 
old, John was left a motherless boy, which loss was com- 



58 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

plete and permanent, for notwithstanding his father again 
married to a sensible, intelligent, and on many accounts 
a very estimable woman, yet he never adopted her m feel- 
ing, but continued to pine after his own mother for years." 
In this brief autobiography he has described his youth and 
early manhood with a charming simplicity and faithful- 
ness which no other can ever equal ; and the reader is ex- 
horted to read and study it. 

John Brown was taught from earliest childhood to "fear 
God and keep His commandments." He received no more 
education than fell to the lot of the average boy on the 
frontier, where schools were few and necessarily inferior. 
He acquired knowledge enough of mathematics to enable 
him to become a good surveyor of lands, and this vocation 
he followed at intervals for years. He was of a studious 
and reflective disposition. The books which he read were 
few, but the principles they inculcated were deeply pon- 
dered and became a part of his character; they were 
"^Esop's Fables," the " Life of Franklin," the " Pilgrim's 
Progress," the hymns of Dr. Watts, and above all, the 
Bible. Upon the teachings of this latter book he meditated 
both day and night; he was familiar with its every story 
and principle. He could recite many parts of it, and could 
readily turn to any portion referred to. He was particu- 
larly charmed with the beauties of the Old Testament; the 
stern old prophets denouncing the wickedness of the times 
had a peculiar fascination for him. 

It has been shown that the Brown family have been 
pioneers in America for almost three centuries. They 
have been in the vanguard of advancing civilization in 
its march across the continent from sea to sea. While 



JOHN BROWN 



59 



the frontier is always devoid of good schools, it possesses 
facilities for education in the practical affairs of life 
superior to those found in the elegant society of older com- 
munities. To develop sterling qualities of head and heart, 
no other place equals the frontier of a progressive and 
growing people. Here man must always grapple with 
nature direct. Truth is not veiled with conventionalities, 
and here shams cannot exist. Men stand before their 
fellows uncovered and in their true characters. Crime 
cannot be hidden nor virtue and worth concealed in a 
frontier settlement. The few conventionalities indulged 
are the simplest and those rendered most necessary by social 
custom and the law. Heart touches heart and man knows 
his fellow in every detail and relation of character; the 
business and inclinations of one are known to all and are 
usually the concern of all. All dealing and intercourse 
between men become direct and personal. The somber 
face of nature in winter, the lack of crowds and large 
assemblies of men, and the absence of strangers and strange 
things, all tend to develop the reflective faculties of the 
mind and to induce melancholy. Melancholy is the child 
of solitude, the parent of genius. Add to these influences 
and agencies a poetic temperament and a fearful sense of 
responsibility to a personal God "who numbers the hairs of 
your head" and will demand a strict accounting "at that 
day," and you have the environment that burned out the 
dross and sent John Brown forth with a character purged 
and refined as by fire. 

The heroic age of any country is that in which man 
meets and subdues the wilderness. Here in the subjection 
of the forest and wild beast, confidence is obtained. Men 



60 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



from this school expect to succeed; the overcoming of ob- 
stacles is the daily experience. Relations between men are 
exhibited in their true light and are sharply denned. Merit 
alone brings approval. The frontier is a social democracy 
where nothing artificial or superfluous can exist. Men are 
jealous of their rights and the rights of others, and are im- 
patient of delays and restraints. Rude and exact justice is 
demanded, and the manner of insuring it often shocks 
the disciples of formal conventionalities. In matters of 
character only the pure gold passes for anything; the false 
is not tolerated, and it is usually requested to move on ; 
if it remains it is only by sufferance, and it must skulk 
and cower and sink to depths of public scorn unknown in 
more polite and well-ordered society. 

In this school was John Brown reared and well learned. 
Other men of our country coming from this school were 
Washington, Franklin, Sevier, Shelby, Jefferson, Jack- 
son, Benton, Harrison, Corwin, Clay, Lincoln, and Lane. 
In the establishment and maintenance of our Government 
these men have been the friends and bulwarks of human 
liberty. And our rank in the nations of the world and 
our phenomenal advancement along all the lines of mental 
and productive industry may be best accounted for by re- 
membering that we are a nation of pioneers, and yet 
attacking the primeval forest and plain with blade and 
saw and share. 

John Brown became a tanner, and worked in his father's 
service as foreman of his establishment. He had not at- 
tained his majority when he married, as he says, "a re- 
markably plain, but neat, industrious and economical girl ; 



JOHN BROWN 61 

of excellent character, earnest piety, and good practical 
common-sense; about one year younger than himself." 
She was indeed all that he described her, and "by her 
mild, frank, and more than all else, by her very consistent 
conduct, acquired and ever while she lived maintained a 
most powerful and good influence over him. Her plain 
but kind admonitions generally had the right effect; 
without arousing his haughty obstinate temper." Her 
name was Dianthe Lusk, and he seems to have regarded 
her with the same deep affection held by his father for 
his mother, Ruth Mills Brown. Long after her death he 
said to his son, John, jr., " I feel sure that your mother 
is now with me and influencing me." Seven children 
were born to them. After her death he married Mary 
Anne Day, daughter of Charles Day, of Whitehall, New 
York, but living at that time in Pennsylvania. Thirteen 
children blessed this marriage, but seven of them died in 
infancy and childhood. She was the sheet-anehor of his 
hopes and the object of his anxious solicitude, the inspira- 
tion to exertion during the long years of his heroic battle 
against human bondage. She survived him more than 
twenty years, and died at the residence of her daughter 
in San Francisco, Cal. 

John Brown was laboring at the vocations of both tanner 
and surveyor before his marriage. He lived in his own 
house, having employed a housekeeper, a widow named 
Lusk, who brought her daughter, Dianthe Lusk, who be- 
came his first wife, as we have seen. In 1825 he moved 
to Pennsylvania, settling near Randolph (now Richmond), 
where he remained for ten years. He served as postmaster 
here for some years, and carried on a large tannery. He 



62 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



took a leading part in the affairs of the community, and 
the neighborhood school was taught in a part of his huge 
log dwelling. He removed to Franklin Mills, Portage 
county, Ohio, in 1835. Here a speculation in village lots 
ruined him financially; he made an assignment and was 
discharged as a bankrupt, but afterwards paid much on 
the debts he was legally free from. Later he was an ex- 
tensive sheep-farmer ; and from this business became a 
member of the firm of Perkins & Brown, wool merchants, 
with warehouses at Springfield, Massachusetts, to which 
city he moved in 1846. He became an expert grader of 
wool, and might have succeeded in his enterprise but 
for the attempt to dictate the price of wool to the New 
England manufacturers ; this caused him to take a large 
cargo of wool to England in August, 1840, which was 
finally sold for much less than it would have brought in 
Springfield. He traveled considerably in Europe, and 
visited for critical inspection and study some of the most 
famous battlefields. He returned to Springfield in Octo- 
ber. His reception by his partner was cordial, and he 
was urged to remain in business. He might have succeeded 
as a wool-factor, though he was not fitted by nature for a 
competitor in trade. And through all the years since 
1837 he had another purpose in life than the accumulation 
of property: he had in that year dedicated his remaining 
years to an aggressive battle against slavery, and had or- 
dered his life accordingly. 

On August 1, 1846, the anniversary of the emancipation 
of slaves in the West Indies, Gerrit Smith offered to give 
one thousand acres of wild mountain land in the Adiron- 
dack Mountains of New York to such negroes as would 



JOHN BROWN 63 

accept, clear and cultivate farms there. The tracts were 
limited to forty acres in size, and a few families accepted 
them at once, though the severity of the climate and the 
hardships of pioneer life made it a discouraging venture 
for negroes. In April, 1848, John Brown called upon 
Smith and proposed to take one of the farms, go on it and 
build a home, and become an example to the few negro 
families then there and to those who might afterward come. 
He explained that pioneer life was familiar to him, and 
that he could be of much use and assistance to the colony 
in teaching the best means of surmounting difficulties en- 
countered in building homes in the wilderness. There is 
little doubt that he had other designs in mind, for he 
had, when a resident in Pennsylvania, proposed to his 
brother that they found some such colony as this now 
projected by Smith. The proposition was promptly ac- 
cepted by Mr. Smith, and Brown secured one or more sur- 
veys, and the refusal of others. Before the final settlement 
of his wool business he removed a portion of his family to 
North Elba, New York, where his home always remained, 
and where he is buried. 

Like his father, John Brown was a tender and affec- 
tionate parent. " Whenever he and I were alone, he never 
failed to give me the best of advice, just as a true and 
anxious mother would give a daughter," says Ruth. " He 
always seemed interested in my work. . . . When I 
was learning to spin he alwaj-s praised me, if he saw that I 
was improving," she writes. And again : " Father used to 
hold all his children, while they were little, at night, and 
sing his favorite songs." She recorded the recollections 
of her baptism : " The first recollection I have of father 



64 TWENTIETH CENTUET CLASSICS 

was being carried through a piece of woods on Sunday, 
to attend a meeting held at a neighbor's house. After we 
had been at the house a little while, father and mother 
stood up and held us, while the minister put water on our 
faces. After we sat down, father wiped my face with a 
brown silk handkerchief with yellow spots on it in dia- 
mond shape. It seemed beautiful to me, and I thought 
how good he was to wipe my face with that pretty hand- 
kerchief. He showed a great deal of tenderness in that 
and other ways. He sometimes seemed very stern and 
strict with me; yet his tenderness made me forget that 
he was stern." He even accepted two-thirds of the punish- 
ment he felt due his son John, his sense of justice and 
duty not permitting him to have any of it omitted. Even 
his daughters did not escape the rod ; " He used to whip 
me quite often for telling lies," one of thorn writes. II is 
affection for his children was very great; it caused him 
to think of them constantly, and he was anxious on their 
account. Ruth received a letter from him when she was 
eighteen, from which we take the following: 

" I will just tell you what questions exercise my mind 
in regard to an absent daughter, and I will arrange them 
somewhat in order as I feel most their importance. 

" What feelings and motives govern her ? In what 
manner does she spend her time ? Who are her associates ? 
How does she conduct in word and action ? Is she improv- 
ing generally? Is she provided with such things as she 
needs, or is she in want? Does she enjoy herself, or is 
she lonely and sad ? Is she among real friends, or is she 
disliked and despised ? 

" Such are some of the questions which arise in the 
mind of a certain anxious father; and if you have a 
satisfactory answer to them in your own mind, he can 
rest satisfied." 



JOHN BROWN 65 

She describes the sickness and death of her sister: 
"The little babe took a violent cold that ended in quick 
consumption, and she died at the end of April, 1849. 
Father showed much tenderness in the care of the little 
sufferer. He spared no pains in doing all that medical 
skill could do for her, together with the tenderest care 
and nursing. The time that he could be at home was 
mostly spent in caring for her. He sat up nights to keep 
an even temperature in the room, and to relieve mother 
from the constant care which she had through the day. He 
used to walk with the child and sing to her so much that 
she soon learned his step. When she heard him come 
up the steps to the door, she would reach out her hands 
and cry for him to take her. When his business at the 
wool store crowded him so much that he did not have time 
to take her, he would steal around through the woodshed 
into the kitchen to eat his dinner, and not go into the 
dining-room, where she could see or hear him. I used to 
be charmed myself with his singing to her. He noticed a 
change in her one morning, and told us that she would not 
live through the day, and came home several times to see 
her. A little before noon he came home, and looked at 
her and said, ' She is almost gone.' She heard him speak, 
opened her eyes, and put up her little wasted hands with 
such a pleading look for him to take her that he lifted 
her from the cradle, with the pillows she was lying on, 
and carried her until she died. He was very calm, closed 
her eyes, folded her hands, and laid her in her cradle. 
When she was buried, father broke down completely, and 
sobbed like a child. It was very affecting to see him so 
overcome, when all the time before his great tender heart 
had tried to comfort our weary, sorrowing mother, and all 
of us." 

We give the private and domestic life of John Brown at 
some length that it may be fully known to the reader, on 

—5 



66 TWENTIETH CENTUKY CLASSICS 

this account : a man is often best judged by the members 
of his own household. And if a man is strong with his 
neighbors or associates it may be taken as reasonably cer- 
tain that his life is correct and his actions just. The 
first question asked when a man's character is a matter of 
inquiry, is, " What do the people of his home, his castle, 
think and say of him ? " If at home he is strong in the 
affection and esteem of his family, friends, associates and 
neighbors, it is very sure that he is just. 

In addition to the books enumerated as being the favor- 
ites of John Brown his daughter adds " Plutarch's Lives," 
" Life of Oliver Cromwell," and " Baxter's Saint's Ever- 
lasting Rest." She also mentions that greatest of all books, 
the Bible. He could, she says, repeat whole chapters and 
books from it. The stern and rigid righteousness of the 
old prophets was in accord with his own faith. He ordered 
his life by precepts taken from the Holy Word. It has 
been said here that he sang well, and in his home he lifted 
his voice in song in the praise of God. His favorite 
hymns were, " Blow ye the trumpet, blow," " Why should 
we start, and fear to die," "Ah, lovely appearance of 
death ! " His religion entered into his daily life. When 
a tanner he was very careful to see that his leather was 
perfectly dry before being offered for sale. His voice was 
daily lifted in supplication at the family altar. On the 
plains of Kansas he cried to God for help and guidance, 
and no meal was eaten in his camp until the blessing of 
heaven was invoked upon it. 

Another feature of John Brown's life was his intense 
earnestness. He early selected an object in life, or rather, 
it was selected by his training and the inherited tenden- 



JOHN BKOWN "' 



cies of his nature. He swore eternal war against slavery. 
Following are his own words : 

" During the war with England a circumstance oc- 
curred that in the end made him a most determined 
Abolitionist, and led him to declare, or swear, eternal war 
with Slavery. He was staying for a short time with a 
very gentlemanly landlord, since a United States Marshal, 
who held a slave boy near his own age, very active, intelli- 
gent, and good feeling, and to whom John was under con- 
siderable obligation for nnmerous little acts of kindness. 
The master made a great pet of John: brought him to 
table with his first company and friends ; called their at- 
tention to every little smart thing he said or did, and to 
the fact of his being more than a hundred miles from home 
with a companv of cattle alone; while the negro boy (who 
was fully if not more than his equal) was badly clothed, 
poorly fed and lodged in cold weather, and beaten before 
hi* eyes with iron shovels or any other thing that came 
fi rst to hand. This brought John to reflect on the wretched, 
hopeless condition of fatherless and motherless slave chil- 
dren; for such children have neither fathers nor mothers 
to protect and provide for them. He sometimes would 
raise the question, Is God their Father?" 

Eternal war with slavery! This subject was never 
absent, from his mind ; it abode with him ; it glared in 
upon him; it became a companion ever present, While 
he toiled in the tan-yard, when he traced the lines of 
tortuous surveys, in the care of his cattle, when he tended 
his sheep in the starlit night, in the counting-house in 
New England— always and forever did this thing press 
npon him for action. " The cry of the poor " he heard 
ever appealing to him. About 1S37 he assembled his 
household and laid before them this burden of his heart. 
The time for action had come. In theory and practice 



68 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

he had always been an abolitionist. But this was not 
enough. Warfare was henceforth to be waged. His first 
soldiers were to be members of his own house; if he was 
strong at home he could not be weak anywhere. His 
course met the perfect approval of his family. Three 
of his sons (those old enough) consecrated themselves to 
this work by prayer. In this service the father was seen 
by his children to kneel for the first time, his uniform 
attitude in prayer having previously been that of "si mul- 
ing with reverence before the throne." In a work so 
mighty it was meet that it be commenced in humility 
and in the strength of Him who turns to flight the armies 
of aliens. 

Detainers of John Brown have attempted to show that 
lie whs a Garrisonian; nothing could be further from the 
truth, hut it would have been nothing to his discredit had 
lie been so. Garrison was not ten years old when John 
Brown swore eternal war with slavery. John Brown fol- 
lowed no man ; it was his intention and purpose to follow 
God. He took counsel of no man in marking his line of 
conduct. His father had become an enemy to slavery 
when a mere child—in the war of the Revolution, while 
his father was giving his life for liberty. The Brown 
family were abolitionists of the Brown school exclusively. 
If associated with others they were so only because others 
followed — the Browns led. From the period of the en- 
listment of his family in his cause, preparation was made 
against the time when they should be called to the field. 
Frederick Douglass found the family living in severe plain- 
ness at Springfield, although Brown's business was then 
prospering. Money saved to furnish a parlor was freely 



JOHN BROWN 



69 



given to purchase clothing for fugitive slaves at North 
Elba. In Europe the ancient battlefields were examined, 
and the guerilla warfare of the world was studied to 
obtain a knowledge of strategy that would aid in this con- 
flict that he had sworn. 

Here, then, is a man who believes in himself before 
other men ; who finds strength in his arm only in propor- 
tion as he feels that he finds favor with God ; who is moved 
to tears at the unhappiness of his fellow-men in bonds ; 
who, like Luther, could not if he would, turn from the 
appointed work; who consecrated his home a shrine to 
liberty ; who made this shrine an altar, and like the great 
patriarch, offered his sons thereon ; who asked nothing of 
any man he was not willing to freely give, no sacrifice he 
did not himself joyfully make; and who sealed with his 
blood the heroic faith in which he walked, — who received 
the crown of the martyr, and whose soul led the Nation as 
it marched to the higher plane of right, and liberty, and 
freedom for all. 



CHAPTER IV. 

FROM BIG SPRINGS TO POTTAWATOMIE. 



Slavery, like the great Python 
Apollo slew; — bred in the slime 
Of earth; — whose birth was the first crime 
Against mankind, and that sublime 

Iniquity of hell to dethrone 

The rights of man, now crawling winds 

Herein in slimy, snaky fold: 

Or like the dragon great of old, 

On Thebes' rich plain in story told, 
Great Cadmus slew, and wond'rous finds 

That from his teeth sown in the earth, 
A race of men comes forth from clods. 
For civil strife; and whom the gods 
Turned man to man, barring all odds, 

Against his equal man by birth. 

Python and dragon both, with fierce 

And bloody mouth, crawling it came; — 
Eyes that shot forth a burning flame 
Glared round for prey; and naught could tame 

The gloated beast of hell, nor pierce 

Its flinty scales, till it had fed 

And fattened on the blood and flesh 

Of Freedom's sons. 

— Joel Moody's "The Song of Kansas." 

The bogus Legislature denned the issue for the Pro- 
Slavery people and party of Kansas. This issue was 

(70) 



JOHN BROWN 



71 



SLAVERY alone. In Kansas nothing else was to be 
known; anything which came in conflict with this issue 
was to be subordinated, no matter what its importance. 
The Free-State party was organized to meet and combat 
the issue made by the bogus Legislature. Up to this time 
there had been no concert of action by the opponents of 
slavery in Kansas. The Pro-Slavery party had acted in 
unison and for a single purpose from the beginning, and 
this gave it a great advantage in the opening conflict. 
Something of the spirit in which this action was mani- 
fested may be seen from the following expressions: 

"We learn from a gentleman lately from the Territory 
of Kansas that a great many Missourians have already 
set their meg in that country, and are making arrange- 
ments to 'darken the atmosphere' with their negroes. This 
is right. Let every man that owns a negro go there and 
settle, and our Northern brethren will be compelled to 
hunt further north for a location." — Liberty (Mo.) Dem- 
ocratic Platform, June 8, 185 J/.. 

The same paper says, under date of June 27, 1854: 
"We are in favor of making Kansas a 'Slave State' if it- 
should require half the citizens of Missouri, musket in 
hand, to emigrate there, and even sacrifice their lives in 
accomplishing so desirable an end." 

And again it says : " Shall we allow such cut-throats 
and murderers as the people of Massachusetts are to settle 
in the Territory adjoining our own State ? No ! If pop- 
ular opinion will not keep them back, we should see what 
virtue there is in the force of arms." 

This was the expression all along the border. The ad- 
vantage of the Pro-Slavery party was the result of it. 



72 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

The actions of the party up to and including the bogus 
Legislature plainly indicated that even the " Squatter 
Sovereignty" feature of the Kansas-Nebraska bill would 
not be tolerated, nor given any fair trial in Kansas. The 
penalty for enticing a slave away from his master was 
death. This Legislature believed that a law to make even 
the discussion of slavery in ordinary conversation a felony 
would be in their interest, and its enactment was seriously 
considered. 

To meet the sentiment for slavery in Missouri, and the 
issue forced upon Kansas by Missourians in the bogus 
Legislature, became the work of the Free-State men of the 
Territory. To prepare for this work, the Big Springs 
convention was called. This convention had its origin in 
a number of preliminary conventions held in Lawrence 
and elsewhere. It was well attended, and representatives 
from all parts of the Territory were present. A platform 
of principles was drawn up and adopted; it demanded 
that Kansas be a free State. Here, then, were the issues : 
Slavery alone, for the Pro-Slavery party; liberty and 
nothing else, for the Free-State party. These were the 
issues up to the Civil War — nothing else, in Kansas. All 
the invasions by Missourians, their election outrages and 
bogus Legislature and laws, all the campaigns for the 
( nforcement of the bogus Territorial laws, all the murders 
and robberies by the ruffians, the Lecompton Constitution, 
and the aid of the Administration at Washington, were 
incidents in the battle waged by the slave-power for the 
supremacy of its issue. The " Topeka movement," Lane's 
Northern Armies, Black Jack, Fort Titus, Fort Saunders, 
Franklin, Hickory Point, and the Leavenworth Consti- 



JOHN BROWN 



73 



tution, were incidents in the struggle of the Free- State 
party to make its issue victorious. It will be well to bear 
this always in mind; it is the key to Kansas Territorial 
history, and the fact that it is so has been overlooked by 
many writers on the subject. 

If the Pro-Slavery party could enforce the bogus laws, 
their victory would be complete without aid of any other 
of the subordinate incidents. They were so framed that 
they could be obeyed only by adherents of slavery ; and if 
obeyed by the people of the Territory, advocacy of free 
principles and a free State would disappear from Kansas. 
If the Free-State men remained in Kansas they were 
compelled to resist these tyrannical enactments. Their 
enforcement was the first step decided upon for the success 
of their issue by the Pro-Slavery men. Being in posses- 
sion of the judiciary of the Territory and having all the 
offices and the cooperation of the Government, it seemed 
that the laws could not be successfully resisted by the 
Free-State party. But at the solicitation and instance of 
ex-Governor Reeder the Big Springs convention resolved 
to resist these infamous laws "to a bloody issue," — a very 
unfortunate declaration for a party at so great a disadvan- 
tage as the Free-State party then was. Reeder was angered 
by the treatment he had received from the bogus Legisla- 
ture and the President, and acted from a spirit of revenge 
and retaliation, and in so doing brought indescribable 
woe to Free-State settlers. That the provocation under 
which the anti-slavery people lay was sufficient to justify 
the adoption of this resolution by their representatives, 
there is no doubt. But the more conservative leaders of 
the party would have devised some less dangerous way 



74 TWENTIETH CENTUEY CLASSICS 

of evasion. The adoption of this resolution was the cause 
of war for " extermination, total and complete," by the 
Missourians a little later. The resolution did the Free- 
State cause much harm in Congress and in the East. In 
Kansas and Missouri it was regarded as a challenge to 
battle by the ruffians, and their supporters in the United 
States Senate took the same view. Nothing more unfor- 
tunate than this action of the convention could have be- 
fallen the Free-State party in Kansas, as was afterwards 
demonstrated by great cost of blood and treasure and un- 
told hardship and suffering. 

The Big Springs convention was held precisely one 
month before John Brown arrived in Kansas. We have 
seen that two of his sons were delegates to that gathering 
of patriots. On October 13, 1855, he wrote his family 
that he had "reached the place where the boys are located 
one week ago, late at night." He found the condition of 
his sons deplorable indeed. "No crops of hay or any- 
thing raised had been taken care of; with corn wasting 
by cattle and horses, without fences; and, I may add, 
without any meat; and Jason's folks without sugar, or 
any kind of breadstuff's but corn ground with great labor 
in a hand-mill about two miles off. . . . Some have 
had the ague, but lightly ; but Jason and Oliver have had 
a hard time of it, and are yet feeble. . . . We have 
made but little progress ; but we have made a little. We 
have got a shanty three logs high, chinked, and mudded, 
and roofed over with our tent, and a chimney so far ad- 
vanced that we can keep a fire in it for Jason. 
We have got their little crop of beans secured, which, 
together with johnny cake, mush and milk, pumpkins and 



JOHN BROWN 75 

squashes, constitute our fare. Potatoes they have none of 
any account; milk, beans, pumpkins, and squashes a very 
moderate supply, just for the present use." Their poor 
success was largely due to the fact that little can be done 
upon a prairie farm the first year. The thick, hard sod 
is held firmly together by the heavy roots of the grass_, 
and is so firm and tenacious that its cultivation is profitless 
and almost impossible. But by the second year the roots 
have decayed, and the sod has fallen asunder; the field 
is a bed of mellow loam, ready to yield immense crops. 
The experience of the Browns was that of all settlers on 
prairie farms, and was not a reason for discouragement. 
Three weeks after the arrival of John Brown in Kansas, 
Dow was murdered near the Hickory Point postoffice, in 
Douglas county. This was the first of a series of events 
which rapidly followed one another, and were seized upon 
to serve as a pretext for the invasion of Kansas by the 
Missourians "to enforce the laws," — mark the purpose. 
Thus early did the "bloody issue" resolution of the Big 
Springs convention begin to bear fruit. This invasion 
came to be known as the Wakarusa War or Shannon's 
War. In this war Brown and his sons took part. When 
the rumors of the invasion spread over the Territory, 
John Brown left Osawatomie and went to the locality 
where dwelt his sons, some eight or ten miles distant. 
He intended to go on to Lawrence to learn the true situa- 
tion, but afterwards sent his son John. The younger 
Brown had scarcely left the house when the courier from 
Lawrence arrived to summon them to the defense of that 
town at once. ~No time was lost in obeying this order; 
the father and four sons set out in the afternoon, and 



76 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



after a march which continued all night and most of the 
following forenoon, arrived in the threatened town Friday t 
December 7, 1855. They found the negotiations be- 
tween Governor Shannon, and the citizens of Lawrence 
represented by Doctor Robinson and Colonel Lane, 
under way. A company of militia was organized imme- 
diately after their arrival, of which they were made 
members; the command of it was given to John Brown, 
who was at once commissioned Captain by Doctor Rob- 
inson. It was composed of other new arrivals and some 
men who had been for a few days in Lawrence. The neigh- 
bors of Thomas W. Barber and those having acted with 
him in his labor in Lawrence were mustered into Brown's 
company. 

The war ended without any battle between the invaders 
and the people of Kansas. John Brown was not well 
pleased with what he first believed to be the terms of 
the peace, but that he threatened to go out and fight the 
Missourians against all orders is scarcely probable. He 
left Lawrence believing that by the terms of the treaty 
concluding the war the attempt to enforce the laws was 
abandoned by Governor Shannon, and his account of the 
matter shows that he was satisfied with what he was given 
to understand were the conditions secured by the Free- 
State men. He may have been misinformed or purposely 
deceived. He says: 

"After frequently calling on the leaders of the Free- 
State men to come and have an interview with him, by 
Governor Shannon, and after as often getting for an 
answer that if he had any business to transact with any- 
one in Lawrence, to come and attend to it, he signified 



joHisr brown 77 

his wish to come into the town, and an escort was sent 
to the invaders' camp to conduct him in. When there, 
the leading Free-State men, finding out his weakness, 
frailty, and consciousness of the awkward circumstances 
into which he had really got himself, took advantage of his 
cowardice and folly, and by means of that and the free 
use of whisky and some trickery succeeded in getting a 
written arrangement with him much to their own liking. 
He stipulated with them to order the Pro-Slavery men of 
Kansas home, and to proclaim to the Missouri invaders 
that they must quit the Territory without delay, and also 
give up General Pomeroy (a prisoner in their camp), — 
which was all done; he also recognizing the volunteers 
as the militia of Kansas, and empowering their officers 
to call them out whenever in their discretion the safety 
of Lawrence or other portions of the Territory might re- 
quire it to be done. He (Governor Shannon) gave up 
all pretension of further attempt to enforce the enact- 
ments of the bogus Legislature, and retired, subject to the 
derision and scoffs of the Free-State men (into whose 
hands he had committed the welfare and protection of 
Kansas), and to the pity of some and the curses of others 
of the invading force. 

" So ended this last Kansas invasion, — the Missourians 
returning with flying colors, after incurring heavy ex- 
penses, suffering great exposure, hardships, and priva- 
tions, not having fought any battles, burned or destroyed 
any infant towns or Abolition presses ; leaving the Free- 
State men organized and armed, and in full possession 
of the Territory; not having fulfilled any of all their 
dreadful threatenings, except to murder one unarmed man, 
and to commit some robberies and waste of property upon 
defenseless families, unfortunately within their power. 
We learn by their papers that they boast of a great victory 
over the Abolitionists." 

It will be seen from a careful reading of the treaty that 



78 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

Brown's understanding of it was incorrect. From whom 
he obtained his knowledge of it does not appear, for it 
was not published immediately. That he desired to fight, 
there is little doubt ; that he would have advocated battle 
before the concession of any vital thing contended for, he 
evidently made plain. It may have been thought best to 
conceal for a few days the real terms, and claim more than 
was actually obtained from Governor Shannon; there 
were many Free-State men who would have insisted upon 
battle before yielding any semblance of submission to the 
bogus laws ; especially was this the case after the murder 
of Barber, when they were restrained with difficulty. 

A study of all the acounts of the Wakarusa war makes 
it very certain that desire to arrest Branson and put him 
under bonds was only a pretense seized upon by the Pro- 
Slavery party to enable them to begin a war to force the 
Free-State people to obey the bogus laws. 

John Brown and his sons returned to the Pottawatomie; 
there he was engaged during the winter in work upon the 
cabins of his sons, and in the erection of a house for his 
brother-in-law, Orson Day. He wrote, February 1, 1856, 
that Lawrence " is again threatened with an attack. 
Should that take place, we may be soon called upon to 
' buckle on our armor,' which by the help of God we will 
do." He and Salmon made a trip to Missouri to buy 
corn, from whence they returned February 20th. There 
they heard that " Frank Pierce means to crush the men of 
Kansas, but I think he may find his hands full before 
it is all over." This rumor was not far wrong, as the 
whole slave-power was then making preparation to enter 
Kansas and begin a vigorous campaign as soon as spring 



JOHN BROWN 79 

opened. Buford was organizing in Alabama and South 
Carolina. Mississippi was preparing to do her part in the 
work. Jefferson Davis was committing the Administra- 
tion to aid in this very purpose. It becomes necessary 
for us to review these preparations for the invasion of 
Kansas in the spring of 1856. It has been charged by 
those who would disparage John Brown, that all the out- 
rages committed upon the Free-State party and people 
of Kansas after the killing of the Doyles and others by 
John Brown and his company on the Pottawatomie were 
the result of that act. Such writers charge that all the 
trouble in Lawrence, all the troubles in southeastern Kan- 
sas, all the troubles at Leavenworth, Buford's march from 
the South with his army for the subjugation of the Terri- 
tory, the imprisonment of Doctor Robinson and others 
for treason, the war of extermination, and finally the 
Civil War, resulted from the bloody work at Dutch Henry's 
Crossing. If such were the truth it would be the highest 
tribute to John Brown's judgment, for it would exalt that 
event to the dignity of being the direct cause of the aboli- 
tion of slavery in America. While that killing was one 
of the great factors in making Kansas free, it cannot be 
claimed the abolition of slavery grew directly out of it, 
as one of the detractors from John Brown's fame would 
have us believe. The campaign of the advocates of slav- 
ery in Kansas in the spring and summer of 1856 was the 
result of elaborate preparation and long premeditation. 

Of this period and the attitude of the South toward 
Kansas after the Wakarnsa war, we desire to cite as au- 
thority the History of Lawrence, by the Rev. Richard 
Cordley. We have no authority in Kansas better than 
that work : 



80 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

" Though the settlers were not molested during this 
severe weather, they knew the quiet was only temporary. 
The opening of the spring would bring a renewal of hos- 
tilities. The hordes that had left Franklin so sullenly 
did not propose to drop the controversy. They saw they 
had made a mistake, and the Free-State men had profited 
by it. Next time they would plan more wisely. They 
would not be caught in court again without a case. All 
over Missouri and the South, preparations were going 
on to push the controversy to a successful issue for slavery. 
The shrewdest men in the land were planning together 
for the summer campaign. The general idea was to make 
it so uncomfortable for the Free- State men that they 
would flee the country, and so that others would not come. 

" The line of attack was not hard to determine. The 
Free-State men occupied a position that was difficult to 
maintain. They knew that the Shawnee Legislature had 
been elected by Missouri votes. They pronounced its en- 
actments an imposition and a fraud. They determined to 
ignore them, and as far as possible to nullify them or 
destroy their effect. The laws were of the most extreme 
pro-slavery type. They not only protected slave property, 
.but punished all acts and expressions against slavery with 
great severity. They could not even discuss the subject 
without becoming liable to criminal prosecution. Their 
only course was to ignore these laws and practically nullify 
them. Then nobody would dare to bring any slaves into 
Kansas. If there were no slaves in Kansas, slavery would 
not really exist, even though the laws did recognize it. In 
two years there would be another election, and by that 
time the Free-State men felt they would be strong enough 
to take possession of all the machinery of government and 
shape the laws to suit themselves. If they could only keep 
things as they were till the next election, immigration 
from the North would do the rest. 

" The Pro-Slavery people, on the other hand, strove to 



JOHN BROWN 



81 



force an immediate issue. They laid their plans to compel 
the Free-State men to recognize the bogus laws, or else 
resist the officials charged with their enforcement. The 
problem of the Free- State men was to ignore the bogus 
laws and yet avoid a collision. They might suffer violence, 
but as far as possible they were to avoid doing violence. 
Above all, they were to avoid any collision with the author- 
ity of the United States. 

"Another element entered into the problem, which must 
be mentioned that the whole situation may be understood. 
That element grew out of what has been referred to as 
the 'Topeka movement' The Free-State policy had its 
negative side in the rejection of the bogus laws. It had 
its positive side in the adoption of the Topeka Constitu- 
tion. During the autumn of 1855 the Free-State people 
held a constitutional convention at Topeka, which framed 
a State constitution. They then sent it to Congress and 
asked to be received into the Union as a State. The House 
of Eepresentatives passed the bill admitting Kansas as a 
State, but the Senate rejected it. Thus the movement 
failed in Congress, but it was kept alive in Kansas as a 
rallying-point of defense. An election Avas held in Jan- 
nary for State officers, and Dr. Robinson was elected Gov- 
ernor. The Legislature then chosen met in March and 
organized, and Governor Robinson sent in his message. 
~No attempt was made, however, to put the State Govern- 
ment into operation. But the thought was to do this if 
the situation became intolerable. The occasion never 
came, and the Topeka government and constitution never 
went into effect. 

"As spring opened, the policy of the Pro-Slavery men 
began to manifest itself. It was a deeply laid, shrewd 
scheme. It went on the assumption that the attitude of 
the Free-State men toward the bogus laws was rebellion, 
and that the actors in the Topeka Free-State movement 
were guilty of treason. They proposed to have the Free- 

6— 



82 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



State leaders indicted for high crimes, and either have 
them arrested or compelled to flee from the Territory. 
This will give a general clue to the new line of attack, 
and will show the animus and purpose of the violent pro- 
ceedings which followed." 

The Constitutional Convention of the Free-State peo- 
ple met at Topeka October 23, 1855. The constitution 
formed there was adopted on the 15th of December by a 
vote of the people, which stood: In favor of the Constitu- 
tion, 1,731 ; against the Constitution, 46. This action 
of the Free-State men was taken as an additional act of 
hostility to the Territorial laws, and the Territorial au- 
thorities resented it accordingly. Although the Waka- 
rusa treaty was supposed to be in force, neither side de- 
ceived itself with the belief that it had ended the conflict. 
On the 14th of November the convention at Leavenworth 
which formed the Law and Order party denounced the 
Topeka Constitutional Convention as treasonable, and 
after the constitution was adopted the members of the 
party were so profuse in threats that the Free-State men 
of Lawrence believed it necessary to form a secret league 
for the defense of the interests of the city and the party. 
This was perfected in December, perhaps about the time 
of the holding of the convention to nominate State officers 
under the Topeka Constitution. It was the "Society of 
Danites" ; sometimes called the " Regulators," and some- 
times the " Defenders." Lane, Eobinson, Legate, and 
other Free-State leaders were at the head of this society. 
On the 12th of January a Free-State convention in Law- 
rence declared in favor of the establishment of the Free- 
State government at once; and on the 15th of the same 



JOHN BROWN 



83 



month State officers under the Topeka Constitution were 
elected. While it is now known that it was never the 
serious intention to inaugurate a hostile government 
by the Free-State people, the Territorial authorities be- 
lieved that an aggressive and conflicting government was 
to be immediately established. The leaders of the Free- 
State party designed this " Topeka movement"' to hold the 
anti-slavery forces together on the issue between the ideas 
contending for the supremacy, but most of the party be- 
lieved with the Territorial authorities, that the Free-State 
government was to attempt to gain control of the affairs 
of the Territory. This was to be accomplished through 
the admission of the Territory as a State. On January 
24th President Pierce sent a special message to Congress 
in which he indorsed the course of the bogus Legislature, 
and denounced the adoption of the Topeka Constitution 
and the election of officers thereunder as an aet of revolu- 
tion and rebellion. February 5, 1856, Governor Chase 
of Ohio recommended to the Legislature of that State 
that measures be taken to aid freedom in Kansas and fair 
play for its advocates. Henry Ward Beecher made his 
famous address in which he denominated a Sharps' rifle 
one of the moral agencies of the times. On the 6th of 
February the result of the Free-State election was pro- 
claimed. This was followed by the proclamation of Presi- 
dent Pierce commanding "all persons engaged in unlaw- 
ful combinations against the constituted authority of the 
Territory of Kansas, or of the United States, to disperse, 
and retire peaceably to their respective abodes." Very 
soon there came the promulgation of an order by Jefferson 
Davis, Secretary of War, authorizing Governor Shannon 



84 TWENTIETH CENTUKY CLASSICS 

to use the United States troops to suppress "insurrectionary 
combinations," and "invasive aggression." This latter 
term was to enable the Governor to turn back Free-State 
settlers, but was never construed to apply to the Mis- 
sourians in favor of forcing slavery on the Territory, nor 
to Buford's men, who were coming with the avowed pur- 
pose of making war. On the 16th of February Secretary 
Marcy directed Governor Shannon to call on the officers 
of Fort Leavenworth and Fort Riley for troops for a the 
suppression of insurrectionary combinations, or armed 
resistance to the execution of the laws." 

These acts of the Administration were to counteract 
the movements of the Free-State men in resolving to 
resist the bogus laws and setting up the Free-State Gov- 
ernment. These were considered treason, and the United 
States courts for the Territory were not long in making 
this conclusion the law, in the promulgation of the "con- 
structive-treason" theory. The South took alarm. Bu- 
ford, of Alabama-, proposed to give $20,000 toward the 
cost of leading an army into Kansas from the Southern 
States. The Legislature of his State appropriated $25,- 
000 for the same purpose. Other Southern States pre- 
pared to send men to contest for Southern rights. Vir- 
ginia would send Colonel Wilkes; South Carolina com- 
missioned Colonel Trcadwell; Kentucky sent Captain 
Hampton; Florida dispatched Colonel Titus. "'We 
want money and armed men' was the perpetual cry, . . 
and it was heard all over the South." The response was 
all that it was hoped it would be. The forces of the 
South were gathering to descend upon the plains of Kan- 
sas early in the spring of 1856. " The Eastern and 



JOHN BROWN 85 

Northern States were continually warned that the war had 
hardly yet commenced, and that the next act in the drama 
would assume more terrible aspects than anything yet 
seen in the Territory." General Atchison had named the 
day of the meeting of the Free-State Legislature as the 
date of the at lack of the Southern forces under the lead- 
ership of Missouri, as that act was held to come under the 
terms of the proclamations of the Administration as ex- 
pressed in orders to Governor Shannon. But the Free- 
State men were not to be frightened from their course by 
rumors and threats. The Legislature convened, and the 
course of the Free-State Government was clearly set forth 
in the message of Governor Robinson, and to this remark- 
ably able paper was due the short respite enjoyed by the 
people of the Territory. Kansas had engrossed the at- 
tention of Congress, and a committee consisting of Con- 
gressman John Sherman of Ohio, M. A. Howard of Michi- 
gan and M. Oliver of Missouri was appointed to come 
to the Territory and investigate the outrages perpetrated 
by the ruffians in the early elections. April 18th this 
committee commenced its work by a session at Lecornpton, 
and soon aroused the wrath of the Pro-Slavery party, 
both in Kansas and Missouri. The feeling against the 
members, against ex-Governor Reeder and against the 
Free-State people increased until the Republican mem- 
bers were driven from the Territory, and Mr. Reeder was 
forced to leave in disguise to escape assassination, as we 
have seen. 

Buford's men began to arrive early in the spring. 
They were quartered at different places in the Territory, 
supposed to be points from which they could most effect- 



86 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

ually assist the Missouri invaders when they arrived. 
They did not pretend to select claims and enter on the 
work of building homes; they established themselves in 
military camps, where they were drilled, and were sub- 
sisted upon what could be seized from the Free-State 
settlers. They were severe and often cruel and brutal in 
their treatment of helpless and defenseless people who 
opposed slavery. A large camp was established near Osa- 
watomie, and their course there was one of outrage from 
the first. They established intimate relations with the 
most rabid Pro-Slavery settlers, and urged them to the 
commission of horrible atrocities. The life of no Free- 
State settler was safe in the vicinity of their camp. They 
had an avowed object, and that was loudly proclaimed: 
it was to make a slave State of Kansas, and to accomplish 
this every means was to be utilized, fair or foul. 

The hope of Kansas to turn this gathering horde from 
her doors was in the arrival of settlers from the Northern 
States as soon as the Missouri river was open to naviga- 
tion in the spring of 1856. They were expected to come 
armed with Sharps' rifles and ready to defend themselves 
from outrage and robbery. But the forces of the South 
took steps to prevent either men or arms from reaching 
Kansas over the Missouri river route. The river was 
blockaded and vessels were searched. Arms were seized, 
and settlers turned back. Here was an unexpected blow 
to the Free-State people, and their condition became criti- 
cal in the extreme. The resources of the South were 
organizing for invasion. The United States troops were at 
the disposition of those demanding their extermination. 
No means of defense could reach them by the usual route, 



JOHN BKOWN 



87 



and a new way into the Territory could not be established 
by the way of Iowa and Nebraska for some months. It 
seemed that the Free-State settlers were at last at the mercy 
of their mortal enemies, and their condition desperate — 
almost hopeless. To add to their dangers, their leaders 
were arrested or forced to leave the Territory; and the 
offense charged against them was treason. 

Having effectually isolated the Free-State men from 
their friends in the North and East and shut out the pros- 
pect of assistance from those sections, and having deprived 
them of their leaders, a cause was sought that would in 
some degree serve as an excuse for the invasion of the 
Territory. In this emergency Sheriff Jones was depended 
upon, and, as events demonstrated, the expectations en- 
tertained of him were fully realized. Mr. Jones took it 
upon himself to declare the Wakarusa treaty at an end, 
and came to Lawrence on the 19th of April, 1856, to ar- 
rest Samuel N. Wood for his complicity in the rescue of 
Branson. He effected his purpose, but his prisoner was 
enabled to escape by a diversion created by the citizens 
who witnessed the arrest. On the following Sunday Jones 
returned with some aids from Lecompton, and these not 
being considered sufficient for his object, he summoned 
several citizens who were on their way to church, to assist 
him. These were not to be so easily diverted from their 
then zeal for the cause of religion, very suddenly developed 
and intensified by the duty and service demanded by the 
sheriff. They gave no heed to his commands, and he, be- 
coming exasperated, arrested another of the Branson res- 
cuers, but one for whom he had no warrant. His efforts 
proving fruitless, he applied to Governor Shannon for 



88 



TWENTIETH CENTUBY CLASSICS 



troops with which to effect the arrest of persons for whom 
he had writs. These were furnished, and Jones again 
appeared in Lawrence, on the 23d of April. With the 
assistance of the detachment of soldiers he succeeded in 
arresting those persons who had refused to obey his sum- 
mons to aid him on the previous Sunday. These were put 
into a tent and guarded. On the following night Charles 
Lenhart, acting upon his own responsibility, shot Sheriff 
Jones, inflicting a painful wound, but one not considered 
dangerous. It was not known who did this deed, and the 
people of Lawrence immediately assembled and disavowed 
the act and condemned it; they also offered a reward of 
$500 for the arrest and conviction of the criminal. This 
was an unfortunate affair for the Free-State people gen- 
erally and for the city of Lawrence particularly. It was 
difficult of explanation, and was immediately seized upon 
as the cause for the invasion of the Territory by the forces 
organized for months previous for that very purpose. The 
leaders spread reports of the death of Jones at the hands 
of a Tree-State mob or assassin, and the reports grew as 
they were passed from ruffian to ruffian along the border. 
Many Pro-Slavery Missourians were already in the Ter- 
ritory awaiting developments, having been placed there 
by their leaders, who no doubt had some understanding 
with Jones that he was to find them an excuse to attack 
the settlers. In fact, there is little doubt that Jones was 
having recourse to his old writs to exasperate the Free- 
State men to some act that would bring on hostilities. 
While Jones was disabled, his deputy, one Sam Salters, 
an ignorant ruffian from South Carolina, was scouring 
the country with United States soldiers at his heels and 



JOHN BROWN 89 

arresting people on all kinds of charges. The United 
States Marshal issued a proclamation May 11th calling 
on the "law-abiding" citizens of the Territory to assemble 
at Lecompton "in sufficient numbers for the execution 
of the laws." This was the authority under which the 
Missourians came from their hiding in the Delaware 1 Re- 
serve north of Lawrence, and again poured over the border 
from the western counties of that State. It is quite prob- 
able that Lawrence would have been so strongly manned 
and so well fortified and defended, had the leaders of the 
Free-State people there determined to battle for their 
town, that the ruffians would have been beaten off. They 
would have found some excuse for retiring, as they had in 
the Wakarusa war. But the policy of non-resistance was 
adopted, and couriers were sent out to turn back the pa- 
triotic men hastening to battle for the cause of right. 

On the morning of the 21st of May, 185G, there were 
several hundred Missourians and ruffians from other 
Southern States in the vicinity of Lawrence. The Mis- 
sourians were commanded by Senator Atchison, the Ala- 
bama forces were under Buford, and those from Florida 
under Titus. Atchison had led his army in through the 
Delaware Reserve, on the north side of the Kansas river; 
Buford had his camp at Franklin, and Titus was in the 
vicinity of Lecompton. On the morning of the 21st these 
forces, together with the troops from the United States 
army, gathered on the hill south of Lawrence. The peo- 
ple had desired to defend themselves, but had been pre- 
vented by their committee of safety; then this committee 
had been discharged and a new one appointed. But the 
new was no better than the old. Every Kansan should 



90 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



read the letter sent to Donaldson by this craven committee; 
ic may be seen in Phillips's "Conquest of Kansas," page 
293. They offered to obey the Territorial laws passed 
by the bogus Legislature if the assembled forces would 
refrain from attacking the town. This act of the com- 
mittee brought it into contempt with both the invaders 
and the citizens of Lawrence; it was designated the "Safe- 
ty Valve," and was ever after the object of contempt and 
ridicule. The people did not generally wish a conflict with 
the United States troops, but some would have fought even 
them; almost all were in favor of resisting Jones and the 
"Territorial militia," as the Missourians and other invad- 
ers were called. Both the invaders and the troops were 
in close consultation with Governor Shannon, in whose 
office they met to discuss and arrange their plans of cam- 
paign. They had the approval of the Governor in all that 
was done. The forces of the United States pretended to 
be looking for persons upon whom to serve warrants; 
Jones and the invaders who were acting as his posse held 
orders from Chief Justice Lecompte to destroy the two 
newspapers of the town and the Free-State hotel, as they 
had been indicted under his "constructive-treason" doc- 
trine and theory. 

The Deputy Marshal first entered the town and made a 
few arrests. That he needed no troops to effect this was 
shown on the previous night, when he had been in Law- 
rence and made some arrests without any assistance and 
without molestation. When he had enacted his farce he 
withdrew, and Sheriff Jones entered with his horde of cut- 
throats. These worthies ran up various flags, and then 
proceeded with the work for which some of them had 



91 

JOHN" BROWN a± 



marched a thousand miles. The presses, type, paper-stock 
and fixtures of the printing-offices were destroyed. The 
Free-State hotel was first bombarded, and afterwards 
burned. Other buildings were burned, including the dwell- 
ing of Doctor Robinson, and the town was looted. As 
the shades of night fell the vandals departed by the red 
glare of the burning city, and weighted down with the 
booty obtained in its pillage. Some of the Missourians 
returned home, but by far the greater number remained to 
assist the men of Buford, Titus and Treadwell in harrying 
the Free-State settlers and following up the work of the 
campaign planned the preceding winter, and so auspi- 
ciously begun at Lawrence. 

The border papers were filled with exultation, and the 
ruffians were urged to continue the work. One paper said 
that nothing more would be done to the settlers if the ruffi- 
ans were not further molested ; but this was for effect in 
the East, where their allies, Davis and other members of 
the Administration, might need something to quiet the 
apprehensions of those not fully informed as to the situa- 
tion in Kansas, and the designs of the slavery propa- 
gandists. 

Following the sacking of Lawrence all semblance of 
order disappeared from the camps of the invaders, except 
that maintained among thieves. No secret was made of 
the fact that the conquest of the Territory had been de- 
cided upon. They were fortified in authority by the proc- 
lamations of the President and Jefferson Davis ; the Gov- 
ernor had received from the Administration orders to assist 
in the work, and seemed anxious to do the bidding not 
only of Davis, but of the bloodiest ruffian on the plains 



92 TWENTIETH CENTUBY CLASSICS 

of Kansas. For the Free-State settlers there was now no 
protection. Murder, anarchy, rapine — a reign of terror 
surged around them. It seemed that the boast of the 
chivalry of the South, that the opponents to slavery in 
Kansas should be exterminated, was on the point of fulfill- 
ment. But for the heroism and unconquerable will of one 
man, this object of the South might have come to a con- 
summation. 



CHAPTEK V. 

WAR ON THE POTTAWATOMIE— PRELIMINARY. 



Then Slavery's champions these words 

Proclaim:' "Come, direful War, and whet 
Thy sword ; and let no freeman set 
His foot on Kansas soil, — forget 

That he is man, ye ruffian hordes! 

"Let bogus votes and bogus laws 

Stand as the will of God! Drive out 
The villain cursed who talks about 
The 'Higher Law!' Let him not spout 

His treason here! The righteous cause 

"Of slavery is recognized 

By the first law of man and God; — 
Kansas we own, and on her sod 
Shall stand no man, unless he nod 
To our great Truth, and be baptized 

"And taken into fellowship 

With all the dear, beloved ones 

Who are not classed with Freedom's sons. 

Give to Northern men solid tons 

Of iron hail! and then let slip 

"The dogs of War! Let no church ope 
The door to him who cannot pray 
For Slavery's cause! Let no man stay 
On Kansas soil, who casts a ray 
Of heavenly light on sinking hope." 

(93) 



94 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

Brave Kansas! Now thy bitter hour 
Comes like a gale of piercing woe, — 
And where fair Freedom stands, the foe 
Unsheaths his sword. Her friends bend low 
The neck beneath usurping power. 

— Joel Moody's "The Song of Kansas." 

We come now to consider the most important work of 
John Brown in Kansas. It is the principal point of attack 
by those who seek to detract from the fame of the hero and 
martyr. It has been said by those more interested in 
exalting names of his contemporaries than in preserving 
the truth of history, that John Brown, without provocation, 
deliberately, and with malice aforethought, went to the 
peaceful vales of the Pottawatomie and there took five 
peaceable, harmless, Christian men from their peaceful 
homes and their families, and, carrying them away, hewed 
them to pieces with broad claymores and remorselessly 
and fiendishly mutilated their bodies after death. If this 
were true, it would indeed be a just cause for condemna- 
tion. There could be nothing offered in justification; and 
if I believed that history did in any manner substantiate 
this charge, I would drop my pen here, or continue its 
use to execrate the diabolical crime. 

But justice demands that any historical character be 
judged by the times in which he lived. lie cannot justly 
be tried by conditions existing in any other age, nor by 
those existing in any other part of the country in which 
he lived than the scene of his acts. A few men have done 
John Brown the injustice to try him by the conditions 
existing to-day. Others have tried him by the conditions 
existing in his own time in New England, where no danger 



JOHN BROWN 



{15 



ever threatened anyone and where the sect of non-resistants 
has ever been of great influence. Various causes can be 
justly assigned for this injustice to John Brown's memory 
and his character. They lie deep in human nature, and 
are political jealousies and the desire of incompetent per- 
sons to exalt their own names at the expense of the fame 
of any and all persons engaged in the same cause. 

In a former chapter we have set out. some of the condi- 
tions found in Kansas in the year L856, when the war on 
the Pottawatomie raged. It will be necessary to be more 
specific, that the reader may have a clear comprehension of 
all the conditions under which John Brown acted. We 
have seen Free-State men murdered for pastime and as the 
result of wagers. We have seen them hacked in the face 
with hatchets and flung dying into their cabins in a man- 
ner so inhuman that their wives were made maniacs. We 
have seen a. town sacked because it would not sanction 
slavery. We have seen the ruffians of Kansas upheld and 
assisted by the President of the United States. We have 
seen the infamous doctrine of "constructive treason" orig- 
inated for the purpose of forcing Free-State men to for- 
swear themselves and subscribe to the most diabolical code 
ever devised by tyranny and oppression ; and under this 
doctrine we have seen patriotic men indicted, torn from 
their families and immured in vermin-infested prisons to 
be tried for their lives. We have seen Free-State women 
and children harried and outraged by remorseless ruffians. 
We have seen all these things, but still the record is not 
complete. New England people can never comprehend 
the fact that such things were suffered here by the brave 
men and women Avho stood continuously in the presence 



96 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



of death that liberty might survive. The patriot pioneers 
have always said to me: We could never make the people 
in the East comprehend our situation; they believed the 
most conservative accounts of the revelry in blood indulged 
by the ruffians overdrawn. Let us look a little deeper 
into the affairs of Kansas in the year of 1856. 

Buford established one of his camps south of the Potta- 
watomie, and near the settlement in which John Brown 
and his sons lived. In this settlement there were many 
Free-State men, but not a majority of them. This settle- 
ment was in the western part of what is now Miami county 
and the eastern part of Franklin county. The streams 
are clear and deep, and timber along their courses was 
plentiful; and as claims were selected in the early settle- 
ment of the Territory for their timber, this part of Kansas 
was early seized by the Missourians. The present town of 
Paola was a stronghold of slavery. For virulence and in- 
tolerance the Pro-Slavery settlers of this region were the 
equals of those in any part of the Territory. Here were 
the Miami, Wea, Peoria and other fragmentary Indian 
tribes with just enough of civilization to make suitable 
allies for the cruel and ignorant ruffians who came to 
make a slave State of Kansas or assist Davis, Hunter and 
others to make it a part of the Southern Confederacy. 
If such a thing were possible, the Pro-Slavery settlers in 
this part of the Territory were more ignorant and sodden 
than in any other portion. The present counties of Linn, 
Bourbon, Anderson, Franklin and Miami were seized by 
a class of "poor whites" owning few slaves, but more 
fanatical and unreasonable in support of slavery than the 
slave-masters themselves. They brought their bloodhounds 



JOHN BROWN 



97 



with them from Tennessee and Mississippi, and came to 
do the bidding of the slave-owners as blindly and unques- 
tioningly as they had in the country from whence they 
came, where they were regarded as so degraded that they 
were not subject to the laws. What a blessing to those 
fair counties that freedom prevailed and made it possible 
for patriotic and civilized people to build them into in- 
tegral parts of a glorious free State ! But it must be re- 
membered that in 1856 these Pro-Slavery "poor whites" 
were largely in possession of them; and the Free-State 
settlers were yet weak in numbers. 

On the 16th of April John Brown, John Brown, jr., 
O. V. Dayton, Richard Mendenhall, Charles A. Foster, 
David Baldwin, and others of the settlement, met and 
resolved to not pay the taxes levied under the authority 
of the bogus laws. For this act they were soon afterwards 
indicted by the United States courts as conspirators, under 
the constructive-treason theory of Judge Lecompte, Chief 
Justice of the Territory. James F. Legate has preserved 
a picture of the Grand Jury of that court; he says: 
"What a sweet-scented jury it was! There were seven- 
teen members, and at least fifteen bottles of whisky in the 
room all the time." These jurymen were of the class de- 
scribed as committing such acts as "the sacking of Free- 
State towns — the burning of Free-State houses — the rav- 
ishing and branding of Free-State women, and turning 
them and their helpless children naked upon the prairies — 
the murders of Free-State men and shocking mutilations 
of their dead bodies." These acts were common then in 
the Territory, and were some of those believed in New 
England as improbable and impossible of execution by 
-7 



98 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

man; and they were impossible in New England — but not 
in Kansas. The mobbing, tarring and feathering of Kev. 
Pardee Butler at Atchison and the turning him adrift 
upon the Missouri river occurred on the 30th of April. 
Early in May some of Buford's men camped on Washing- 
ton and Coal creeks, along the Santa Ee Trail, and "were 
not only committing depredations upon the property of the 
settlers, but were intercepting, robbing and imprisoning 
travelers on the public thoroughfares, and threatening to 
attack the towns." On the 19th of May they murdered 
a young Free-State man named Jones, at a store near 
Blanton's Bridge. On the following day another Eree- 
State man, a young gentleman recently from New York, 
was shot in a cowardly and wanton manner in the public 
highway about one and one-half miles from Lawrence. 
The retreat from the sacking of Lawrence was marked by 
the pillaging of houses, "stealing horses, and violating the 
persons of defenseless women." " There are hundreds 
of well-authenticated accounts of the cruelties practiced 
by this horde of ruffians, some of them too shocking and 
disgusting to relate, or to be accredited, if told. The tears 
and shrieks of terrified women, folded in their foul em- 
brace, failed to touch a chord of mercy in their brutal 
hearts, and the mutilated bodies of murdered men, hang- 
ing upon trees, or left to rot upon the prairies or in the 
deep ravines, or furnish food for vultures and wild beasts, 
told frightful stories of brutal ferocity from which the 
wildest savages might have shrunk with horror." 

These ruffians were joined in their robberies and mur- 
ders by the Pro-Slavery settlers, and even by the Terri- 
torial officials. Governor Geary describes them as "bands 



JOHN BROWN 



99 



of armed ruffians and brigands whoso sole aim and end 
is assassination and robbery." " These men," he continues, 
"have robbed and driven from their homes unoffending 
citizens; have fired upon and killed others in their own 
dwellings; and stolen horses and property under the pre- 
tense of employing them in the public service. They have 
seized persons who had committed no offense, and after 
stripping them of all their valuables, placed them on steam- 
ers, and sent them out of the Territory. Some of these 
bands, who have thus violated their rights and privileges, 
and shamefully and shockingly misused and abused the 
oldest inhabitants of the Territory, who had settled here 
with their wives and children, are strangers from distant 
States, who have no interest in, nor care for the welfare of 
Kansas, and contemplate remaining here only so long as 
opportunities for mischief and plunder exist. 

" In isolated or country places, no man's life is safe. 
The roads are filled with armed robbers, and murders for 
mere plunder are of daily occurrence. Almost every farm- 
house is deserted, and no traveler has the temerity to ven- 
ture upon the highway without an escort." 

The chief centers of these ruffians were Leavenworth 

and Lecompton — towns sunk by them to the lowest degree 

of depravity. Dr. Gihon says : " Lecompton is situated 

on the south side of the Kansas river, about fifty miles 

from its junction with the Missouri, and forty miles in a 

southwesterly direction from Leavenworth City, upon as 

inconvenient and inappropriate a site for a town as any 

in the Territory ; it being on a bend of the river, difficult 

of access, and several miles beyond any of the principal 

thoroughfares. It was chosen simply for speculative pur- 

I 

t. of C. 



100 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



poses. &n Indian 'floating claim' of a section of land was 
purchased by a company of prominent Pro-Slavery men, 
who found it easy to induce the Legislative Assembly to 
adopt it for the location of the capital, by distributing 
among the members, supreme judges, the governor, secre- 
tary of the Territory, and others in authority, a goodly 
number of town lots, upon the rapid sale of which each 
expected to realize a handsome income. It contained, at 
the time of Governor Geary's arrival, some twenty or more 
houses, the majority of which were employed as groggeries 
of the lowest description. In fact, its general moral condi- 
tion was debased to a lamentable degree. It was the resi- 
dence of the celebrated Sheriff Jones (who is one of the 
leading members of the town association), and the resort 
of horse-thieves and ruffians of the most desperate char- 
acter. Its drinking saloons were infested by these charac- 
ters, where drunkenness, gambling, fighting, and all sorts 
of crimes were indulged in with entire impunity. It was 
and is emphatically a border-ruffian town, in which no 
man could utter opinions adverse to negro slavery with- 
out placing his life in jeopardy." 

These brigands and murderers can be well described by 
repeating the boast of one Robert S. Kelly, one of their 
leading men in the Territory, who declared that he could 
never die happy until he had killed an abolitionist. " If," 
said he, " I can't kill a man, I'll kill a woman; and if I 
can't kill a woman, I'll kill a child." On the 21st of 
June, an Indian agent, named Gay, was traveling in the 
vicinity of Westport, and was stopped by a party of Bu- 
ford's men, who asked him if he was in favor of making- 
Kansas a free State. He promptly answered in the affirm- 



JOHN BROWN 101 

ative, and was instantly shot dead. Such was the only 
crime for which this soul was hurried into the eternal 
world." 

The foregoing will serve to give some idea of the general 
condition of the Territory in the spring and early summer 
of 1856. This condition was the result of the campaign 
commenced immediately after the Wakarusa war; we 
have seen the preparations made for this campaign all 
over the South and in the cabinet of the President. The 
active operations against the Free-State men began with 
the arrival of the bands under Buford. We will now see 
what were the conditions existing on the Pottawatomie. 

Henry Sherman had been in the Territory for some 
years. He was at first a laborer for John T. Jones, or 
'"Ottawa" Jones, as he was called. Jones was an educated 
Ottawa Indian and a minister; he is universally spoken 
of as a good man. Sherman finally went into business 
for himself. He squatted on a claim where the military 
road crossed the Pottawatomie, and his place soon came to 
be known as Dutch Henry's Crossing. It was agreed by all 
that his character was bad; his principal occupation was 
getting his brand upon the cattle of Indians and others. 
He was a giant in stature, drunken and quarrelsome, and 
finally lost his life for the outrageous course he adopted 
towards the wife of a Free-State settler. He was in favor 
of slavery only because he saw in its adherents kindred 
spirits to his own, and the opportunity to carry on his 
questionable business if slavery should succeed. As a 
matter of principle he cared no more for slavery than any 
other institution ; he supported it because it gave him the 
opportunity to gratify the basest of inclinations and pro- 



102 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

pensities. His brother, William Sherman, was much such 
a man, but without the ability of Henry ; he was younger, 
just as drunken, a little more reckless because of the 
confidence he had in the ability of his brother to defend 
and protect him and his known willingness to do so. 
Allen Wilkinson found a congenial companion in Henry 
Sherman, and in the first rush for claims he seized one 
adjoining that of " Dutch Henry," and a little below the 
Crossing. In the first election for members of the Legis- 
lature he was chosen to the bogus Legislature by fraudu- 
lent votes from Missouri and while yet a resident of that 
State. In this execrable body he was one of the most 
servile, obsequious, abject and sycophantic tools of the 
slave-power in the whole assembly. He was made a great 
fanfaron, boaster, and jack-pudding by the service he had 
rendered slavery there, and seeing that he who became the 
vilest was given political preferment he aspired to the 
leadership of his precious constituency. Such men are 
always the tools of others without knowing it; "Dutch 
Henry" was the man upon whom the slave leaders relied. 
Wilkinson supposed it was himself, and to retain the high 
position he supposed he had won he was ever foremost in 
the outrages perpetrated upon Free-State settlers. The 
Doyle family were from Tennessee ; they were of that 
class considered too low in the social and moral scales to 
be amenable to law. Though detested and despised, and 
by slavery reduced to a level below the negro, they believed 
in the vile system and were ready to commit any outrage 
suggested by its advocates. They had lived in the South 
by patrolling plantations and spying on the actions of 
slaves; they brought their bloodhounds to Kansas with 



JOHN BROWN 



103 



them, and were located in this settlement to hunt down 
and turn back fugitive and runaway slaves. They were 
the abject tools of Henry Sherman, and had a miserable 
and squalid cabin on a branch of Mosquito creek, directly 
north of that of Wilkinson, and less than a mile away, 
although on the opposite side of the river. Here with 
their bloodhounds they spied on the actions of the Free- 
State settlers and reported to Wilkinson and Sherman, 
and after the arrival of Buford's men were in constant 
communication with them. They lost their bloodhounds 
in trying to capture a Free-State man who had been 
through their reports notified to leave the Territory. He 
fled before Buford's Georgians and the Doyles, and when 
the hounds came up with him he took refuge in the river ; 
the dogs followed him there, but were not so dangerous in 
the water. He caught them one by one and stabbed and 
drowned them all, and escaped to Leavenworth, where he 
had friends who protected him ; and he was there when he 
heard of the death of the Doyles. Man does not descend 
any lower in the scale of humanity than the point reached 
by the Doyle family. There are things told of them too 
vile to write, and long years of inquiry lead me to believe 
them true. 

The nearest camp of Buford's men was that of a com- 
pany of Georgians, about four miles away. " Dutch 
Henry" kept liquor, and his place was the congregating 
point for the Pro-Slavery men and the Georgians. It was 
the headquarters of this band, the center from which in- 
telligence of the best localities for stealing cattle and 
horses and other supplies was supplied. The Shermans, 
Wilkinson and the Doyles spent much time in the camp 



104 



TWENTIETH CENTUBY CLASSICS 



of their friends, and kept them informed of the arrival 
of Free-State families, who came in greater numbers in 
1855 and the spring of 1856 than did those of the Pro- 
Slaver j party. In the spring of 1855 Henry Sherman 
had warned two Germans that they might expect the fate 
of a Vermont man who had been hanged a short time be- 
fore, but rescued before death. 

The Browns, and the Shermans and their proteges soon 
came into conflict. Frederick Brown interfered in behalf 
of a woman against whom one of the Shermans had 
designs. The Browns did not drink whisky nor steal 
cattle — and this was enough to turn the ruffians against 
them. While there had been no public outbreak in the 
settlement against the Free-State men, the reinforcement 
of the Pro-Slavery men by the arrival of the Georgians 
was an event of a nature to create anxiety in the minds of 
the Browns. Wishing to ascertain what might come from 
this location of Buford's men in their midst, John Brown 
took his surveying instruments and ran a line through 
their camp ; he knew that only Pro-Slavery surveyors were 
employed, and that the ignorant Georgians would believe 
him one of the Government surveyors without asking ques- 
tions. He found that the death or expulsion of himself 
and sons and other Free-State people had been decided 
upon, and evidently through the information supplied by 
the Shermans, Wilkinson, and the Doyles. One of 
Brown's neighbors said in 1885 : " The Browns were 
hunted as we hunt wolves to-day ; and because they under- 
took to protect themselves they are called cold-blooded mur- 
derers, — merely because they 'had the dare,' and were con- 
tented to live and die as God intended them to. Brown 



JOHN BROWN 



105 



was a Bible-man, — he believed it all; and though I am 
not, I give him credit for being honest, and the most con- 
sistent so-called Christian I have ever met. Brown and 
his sons had claims, and worked them, as I did mine, 
when these devils were not prowling about, killing a man 
now and then, stealing our stock and running them off to 
Missouri." 

When Sheriff Jones stirred the caldron of border- 
ruffianism to find a pretext for the attack so elaborately 
prepared for by the South, the Free-State men of Kansas 
determined to again assist the people of Lawrence to beat 
back the invaders. John Brown, jr., was Captain of the 
" Pottawatomie Kifles," and these were held in readiness 
to march on very short notice. The Browns were sum- 
moned to the defense of Lawrence on the 22d of May, 
"and every man (eight in all) except Orson, turned out; 
he staying with the women and children to take care of the 
cattle." They went in two companies, John Brown, jr., 
going with his company, which was joined by two other 
companies on the road; he was elected to command the 
combined force, but probably this was a temporary con- 
solidation, intended to remain effective during the cam- 
paign then being entered upon. In the second company 
of the Brown family were John Brown, his sons Owen, 
Frederick, Salmon, Oliver, and Henry Thompson, his son- 
in-law. He speaks of these as "the other six," saying, 
"the other six were a little company by ourselves." On 
the way to Lawrence they learned that it had been de- 
stroyed on the 21st, the day before they had received or- 
ders to march to its defense. The forces halted, and it 
was decided not to proceed to Lawrence, but to await 



106 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



further orders before either advancing or returning home. 
The camp was pitched on Ottawa creek, on the claim of 
Captain Shore. John Brown favored continuing the 
march to Lawrence; this might have been done had not a 
courier arrived to say that the town was short of food, 
and that the people had submitted to the sacking of the 
town without any attempt at resistance. The halt was 
made on the evening of the day upon which the march 
began — May 2 2d. 

On the following day, in the forenoon, a messenger ar- 
rived in the camp with intelligence which caused John 
Brown to return to the Pottawatomie with his company. 

When the Free-State men on the Pottawatomie heard 
that Lawrence was threatened, and before they had re- 
ceived any formal notice that their services might be 
needed, they had made preparations to render what as- 
sistance they could to their neighbors and fellow-sufferers. 
All the lead that could be procured was cast into bullets, 
and the guns were put in as good condition as possible. 
The only store at which lead could be obtained in the 
settlement was at the little establishment near Dutch 
Henry's Crossing, kept by an old gentleman from Michi- 
gan, a Free-State man named Morse. He seems to have 
been a widower with a family of little children. He was 
a harmless and inoffensive old gentleman, very timid, 
and too old to take part in the protective arrangements 
made by the settlers. He had engaged in the vocation of 
tradesman for the purpose of procuring a living for his 
motherless children, the oldest of whom was about twelve. 
He supposed his age and his expressed intention to devote 
himself to his business exclusively would afford him pro- 



JOHN BROWN 



107 



tection. He dealt in such things as the condition of the 
settlers rendered most profitable — groceries, and lead and 
gunpowder. Frederick Brown had bought some thirty 
pounds of lead of him, and this had been used in getting 
ready to go to Lawrence, should it become necessary. He 
was questioned about the use to which the lead was to be 
put, as he carried it by the home of the Shermans, where 
the Doyles and others were congregated; he made no 
secret of the purpose of its purchase. 

A company from Missouri was expected to come into 
the Free- State settlement on the Pottawatomie and attack 
the settlers there; this was a part of the general plan 
to move against the Free-State settlers and enforce obedi- 
ence to the bogus laws and subdue the spirit of resistance 
manifest. When the Free-State companies went to the aid 
of Lawrence the Pottawatomie settlement was left without 
any means of self-protection. Such a time would natur- 
ally be seized upon in which to strike the contemplated 
blow, by the Missouri ans and their ruffian allies, the Sher- 
mans, Doyles, the Georgians and the other companies of 
Buford then in the doomed settlement or hanging on its 
outskirts. And the invaders were to do much more than 
make an attack upon the Pottawatomie; they were to do 
for this part of the Territory what Sheriff Jones and Don- 
aldson were to accomplish at and about Lawrence. The 
blow was to be a little later, and to be cooperated in by the 
invaders from about Lawrence, if found necessary ; many 
of these invading bands did march to the vicinity of the 
Pottawatomie settlements after Lawrence was sacked. 
The active work of the campaign was commenced as soon 
as the " Pottawatomie Kifles" marched out to aid Law- 
rence. The Pro-Slavery men, under the lead of William 



108 TWENTIETH CENTUEY CLASSICS 

Sherman, — Henry Sherman being in Missouri at the time, 
and probably to bring in invaders, — took a rope and re- 
paired to the store of Mr. Morse to hang him. They 
told him to leave by eleven o'clock, after being persuaded 
to spare his life. At eleven o'clock they returned, much 
under the influence of whisky, and attempted to kill the 
old gentleman with an axe. He was saved by the pleadings 
and tears of his children, but was warned to be gone by 
sundown, and that there would be no further trifling with 
him; if found he would be killed at once. Notices were 
prepared and delivered to Free-State settlers warning them 
to leave in three days, and threatening them with death if 
found there after that time. These notices were written 
with rod ink and had a skull-and-crossbones rudely drawn 
upon them. They went to the families of the Browns 
and threatened to burn their cabins over their heads, and 
when prevailed upon to spare their lives ordered them to 
leave, and after the women had found a yoke of cattle and 
hitched them to the cart, they were allowed to put into this 
rude conveyance their children and a few valuables and 
oo to the home of the Rev. S. L. Adair. The ruffians went 
to the houses of two German settlers who favored the Tree- 
State cause, warned them to leave, and burned their houses. 
One of these, that of Theodore Weiner, contained a con- 
siderable stock of goods. Weiner fled to the company of 
men who had gone to the assistance of Lawrence. 

This is a brief statement of the actual conditions which 
confronted the Tree-State settlers on the Pottawatomie 
immediately after the departure of the militia to fight for 
Lawrence. We have not enumerated all the outrages com- 
mitted, as it is not necessary to go into greater detail. 
Other actions of the ruffians were as rabid and reprehensi- 



JOHN BROWN 309 

ble as those set down here. Some wives fled to overtake 
their husbands in the companies marching to the relief 
of Lawrence. The country was terrorized by the Pro- 
Slavery men under orders from the Shermans. The no- 
tices given the Free-State families made i't plain that they 
were to be murdered if they were found there on the night 
of the day mentioned in them. The ruffians were moving 
upon them from Missouri and from their camps in the 
vicinity; Cooke arrived from Bates county, Missouri, on 
Tuesday, the 27th, with a considerable force. Their de- 
fenders were away to battle for liberty in another part of 
the Territory. The only thing to be done was to send word 
for them to return. The settlers put a young man on a 
horse, and directed him to overtake the forces marching 
away and urge that some help be sent back to protect their 
own homes. All this is clear and undisputed. 

This, then, was the condition on the Pottawatomie on 
the night of May 22d. Helpless women and children had 
been turned out of their own houses under threats of death, 
and their houses burned to ashes; they had sought what 
refuge they could find. They and those of whom they 
asked shelter and protection bore red notices that their 
lives were forfeited if they were found there three days 
later. The sacred calling of the ministry of the gospel 
afforded no protection. The people could almost see the 
camps of the ruffians by the light of their burning cabins. 
If help could not be had they must depart from their 
homes and carry with them what they could. But where 
could they go? Missouri was on the east and the desert 
of raw prairies on the west. To them it seemed that they 
were in the power of the ruffians, and that there was little 
hope of escape. 



110 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 




CHAPTER VI. 

WAR ON THE POTTAWATOMIE-COt/P DE MAITRE. 

The raven croaks! 
The black cloud is low over the thane's castle; 
The eagle screams— he rides on its bosom. 
Scream not, gray rider of the sable cloud, 
Thy banquet is prepared! 
The maidens of Valhalla look forth, 
The race of Hengist will send them guests. 
Shake your black tresses, maidens of Valhalla, 
And strike your loud timbrels for joy! 
Many a haughty step bends to your halls, 
Many a helmed head. 

Dark sits the evening upon the thane's castle, 
The black clouds gather round; 

Shrink not then from your doom, sons of the sword! 

Let your blades drink blood like wine; 

Feast ye in the banquet of slaughter, 

By the light of the blazing halls! 

Strong be your swords while your blood is warm, 

And spare neither for pity nor fear, 

For vengeance hath but an hour. 

— Sir Walter Scott. 

Governor Robinson thus defines Eli Thayer's theory of 
freedom in Kansas: 

" Eli Thayer, as he has often said, looked upon the 
struggle in Kansas as the entering-wedge in the conflict 
for the overthrow of slavery in the nation. Freedom once 
planted in Kansas would spread east and south ^ accord- 
ance with the popular sovereignty of the Kansas-Nebraska 
bill till not a slave should be found in any fetate. lnis 

(ill) 



112 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

was the view of the agents of the Aid Company and many 
others who came to Kansas from the North and East." 

This theory, as stated by Mr. Thayer's most devoted 
friend and closest confidant, Avas : Make Kansas a 
free State without any regard to the slave question as it 
affects the country at large, — without any regard to the 
right or wrong of slavery, — then the beauties of freedom 
and its advantages, as exemplified in Kansas under the 
squatter features of the Douglas bill, will so impress and 
appeal to the slave States that they will voluntarily abolish 
the slave system and give freedom to the slaves. As free- 
dom was to "spread east and south," it is supposed that 
Missouri was counted upon as the first convert to this 
"epidemic" theory of freedom, and, no doubt, Arkansas 
was to become the second. This theory was to "spread" 
until not a slave was left in "any State." 

It may be well affirmed that if a whimsical, imprac- 
ticable, and foolish vagary was ever promulgated on earth 
it was this. This squatter feature had always remained to 
the Southern States. Mr. Thayer would have us believe 
that no State was empowered to free the slaves it contained 
until the Douglas bill became a law. But the truth is, any 
State could have liberated its slaves at any time, if it had 
desired to do so. Slavery rested upon the sentiment of 
the people of the South quite as much as it rested upon 
legal enactments; in fact, there could have been no enact- 
ments without the existence first of the sentiment. And 
the whole South had seen the rapid progress of the North 
under freedom, and the decadence of the South under slav- 
ery ; but public sentiment there had increased for slavery 
until its aggressions had upset the solemn compact of the 



JOHN BROWN 113 

nation and created the conditions existing at the very time 
of the promulgation of Thayer's ridiculous "epidemic" 
theory. He seemed to forget that Missouri, the first State 
into which his theory was to "spread," bordered on two 
free States, Illinois and Iowa: Illinois had been a free 
State and Missouri a slave State for more than thirty 
years. The Free-State men who encountered these same 
Missourians on the plains of Kansas could discover no 
sentiment in them in favor of Mr. Thayer's theory. Their 
favorite theory was the extermination of Free-State men ! 
— the nationalization of slavery! But Governor Robinson 
very properly and correctly says that there existed an ele- 
ment in Kansas who held to this preposterous theory. 

It was very fortunate for the settlers on the Pottawato- 
mie, and in fact for all the Free-State men of Kansas, 
that there were no men in the camp on Middle Ottawa 
creek on the 23d of May who were believers in so trans- 
parent an absurdity. These men had guns in their hands. 
They were practical, common-sense men. They had not 
gotten beyond the impression that when their country was 
invaded by whisky-sodden ruffians, armed, loudly proclaim- 
ing their intention to exterminate Free-State people, — in 
this extremity these men had somehow gotten the idea that 
they were in duty bound to defend their families and homes 
as best they could. They may have been mistaken, and in 
fact we are often told by the non-resistants that they were 
wrong; but they had their wives and children on an ex- 
posed and dangerous frontier, and they were threatened 
with death by as relentless and brutal foes as ever carried 
desolation and rapine into a border-land. These Free-State 
men in camp on the Middle Ottawa creek were mistaken to 

-8 



114 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



that degree that they imagined they were justified in trying 
to defend their homes and make some effort to turn back the 
hordes of invasion ! Actual occurrences and experiences 
made impressions upon them, strange as it may seem ! If 
a man burned a house, they were foolish enough to believe 
he meant mischief! If he came with a blood-red notice 
to warn a family to move away by a certain day on pain of 
death, they mistrusted that he might mean harm ! And 
when he went to cabins where were wives and children of 
men on the road to defend Lawrence and threatened mur- 
der, driving mothers and children to seek safety in flight 
after terrorizing them with the avowed intention of burn- 
ing the cabins over their heads, and even outrage, these 
men felt that there was danger which called upon them to 
take some steps to defend their families ! But they were 
only plain men, intent upon having some share of their 
rights if they had to fight for them ; and having, also, some 
idea, mistaken or otherwise, that duty demanded that they 
defend their families with their lives, and if in doing so 
they killed some ruffian they might be justified in the eyes 
of all right-thinking men ! 

The message carried by Mr. Williams to the camp on 
Middle Ottawa creek was not sent to any particular person 
or commander ; it was a statement of conditions and 
an appeal for help. John Brown heard the message de- 
livered. He immediately declared : "I will attend to those 
fellows." He called for volunteers to return with him to 
the Pottawatomie. His son, John Brown, jr., objected to 
the separation of the men at that time, but as many as were 
required to make an investigation were readily secured. 
It has often been asked why the whole company did not 



JOHN BROWN 115 

return, if there was danger to the Pottawatomie settle- 
ments. There was but a portion of the company from that 
particular settlement. And Judge Hanway says that it 
had been determined to proceed, and rescue Doctor Rob- 
inson, as it was expected that he would be brought by 
a certain route to Leoompton. It was learned later that 
he was taken over a different road. Then, it was not 
known just what would be necessary in the settlement when 
John Brown left the camp. And the camp was but a few 
hours' ride from the Pottawatomie, and from it reinforce- 
ments could be speedily obtained. Again, as they were 
not to go on to Lawrence, they would perhaps all return to 
their homes in a day or two, and arrive in time to prevent 
the expulsion of the Free-State settlers on the following 
Wednesday. Whatever the reason, it is nowhere set 
down that they remained away because they supposed no 
danger threatened. 

The party which left the camp on Middle Ottawa creek 
to return to the Pottawatomie consisted of John Brown 
and his sons Frederick, Owen, Watson and Oliver, and his 
son-in-law Henry Thompson, Theodore Weiner, and James 
Townsley, — eight. It was soon known in the camp that 
Brown had raised a company to return to the Pottawatomie 
in response to the appeal for protection, and to take such 
action as might be required by the conditions found exist- 
ing there when the company arrived. Some were requested 
to go, and told what would be done should necessity require 
it, who declined to go. Indeed no secret was made of the 
intentions of the company, nor of the purpose for which 
it was to return in advance of the company of enlisted 
"Rifles." The men who remained in camp helped to grind 



116 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



the swords of those who returned. When the little party 
moved out to go in the defense of home and family, three 
cheers were given by the men who remained, and the com- 
mander of the company says all knew that a blow of retalia- 
tion was to be struck. The departure was open, public, 
amid the cheers of companions in arms, in nowise secret, 
with no intention that it should be so. All the party except 
Theodore Weiner rode in the wagon of James Townsley. 
Weiner rode his own gray pony. It seems that lie was not 
a member of the Pottawatomie Rifles, but that he had fled 
to the camp the previous day, after having received his 
notice to quit the Territory. It is claimed by some that 
his store had been burned by the Doyles and others, and 
that he had been obliged to fly for his life, but the prepon- 
derance of the evidence says that Captain Pate burned 
his store a few days later. The Doyles only delivered the 
notice, and accompanied it with dire threats of what would 
follow its disregard. 

The only evidence we have of the party's having been 
seen on the road is contained in a letter written by Colonel 
James Blood, twenty-three years after the occurrence. He 
was a very timid man, and was slipping into Lawrence by 
a roundabout way to escape the ruffians. He says he met 
the party a few miles north of Dutch Henry's Crossing. 
The letter contains many curious and strange statements, 
contradictory of what is now known to be true, and insist- 
ing upon what is known to be false. A mile north of Dutch 
Henry's Crossing the party went into camp in the woods 
between deep ravines. What happened in this camp for 
the next twenty-four hours is set out in Townsley's state- 
ment, If he had not made several statements, no two 



JOHN BROWN 117 

alike — all different — our knowledge of the actions of the 
party at this point might be easily gained, and be very 
satisfactory after we had obtained it. In his later state- 
ments Townsley maintains that the party remained inactive 
here all the night and following day, trying to induce him 
to point out all the Pro-Slavery men in the settlements on 
the Pottawatomie, so that they might "sweep the creek," 
and destroy them indiscriminately. He remained obdu- 
rate, and the expedition could do nothing until the follow- 
ing night, when he agreed to point out only a stipulated 
number of the ruffians ; and then the work was done,— 
the Pro-Slavery men killed. This is preposterous, when 
it is remembered that John Brown knew the location of 
the Pro-Slavery settlers quite as well as Townsley. And 
it is disproved by what actually occurred. Brown had no 
intention of "sweeping the creek." He only sought the 
guilty ; and two Pro-Slavery men who were captured were 
returned to their homes unharmed, because they satisfied 
Brown that they had no part in the outrages inflicted, and 
no intention to join in those contemplated. If Brown 
had desired or intended to kill indiscriminately, he would 
never have spared these men who were found so near the 
house of Henry Sherman and where he found William 
Sherman. In one of his statements Townsley says he did 
not point out other persons to be killed, because it was too 
near daylight when those who were killed had been dis- 
posed of. Other men of the party have left statements 
of what occurred in the camp and in the settlement on the 
24th of May. They are entitled to as much credit as 
Townsley, especially since his stories do not always agree. 
The many contradictory statements make it difficult to 



118 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

reach a satisfactory determination. The most that can be 
said is, that what did actually take place in the camp of 
Brown and his party on the night of the 23d and the fol- 
lowing day must for the present remain a matter of con- 
jecture, with the absolute certainty that it was not spent 
as Townsley says in his last statements that it was occupied. 
All that Townsley was invited to join the party for was 
to carry them in his wagon — nothing else. Every member 
of the party knew the settlement as well as Townsley knew 
it. Let us endeavor to account for the day — May 24th — 
from what reliable evidence we have. 

It is maintained by almost all the early writers on Kan- 
sas history — those who were here at the time and should 
have known — that these men had a trial. The known 
circumstances tend to confirm their statements. That 
some inquiry or investigation was conducted by Brown 
during the day of the 24th of May, is quite possible, even 
probable. Brown told Governor George A. Crawford, 
"that the death of those Pro-Slavery men had been deter- 
mined upon at a meeting of the Free-State settlers the 
day before; that he was present at the meeting, and, I 
think, presided, and that the executioners were then and 
there appointed." Governor Crawford was a man of re- 
markably clear comprehension and vivid recollection, and 
there is no doubt that John Brown told him precisely what 
he has recorded. Gihon, the private secretary of Gov- 
ernor Geary, says : "These five men w r ere seized and dis- 
armed, a sort of trial was had, and in conformity with the 
sentence passed, were shot in cold blood. This was doubt- 
less an act of retaliation for the work done but a few days 
before at Lawrence." Ilolloway, in his history, says: 



JOHN BROWN 



119 



" Pro-Slavery men in the region of Osawatomie had for 
some time been very impudent, bold and threatening. The 
spirit of extermination which incited the destroyers of 
Lawrence and which had been breathing its threats along 
the border all spring, at once seized the Pro-Slavery men 
of that section. . . . When the men about Osawat- 
omie were absent at Lawrence, their Pro-Slavery neighbors 
visited their defenseless families, insulted and notified 
them to leave the country, and threatened, in case they did 
not observe this order, to kill them all. . . . On the 
return of Captain John Brown, junior, and his company, 
and learning of the deep-laid plots of assassination, a coun- 
cil was held near Osawatomie, at which the question of 
taking the field and engaging in actual hostilities was dis- 
cussed, of which Captain John Brown, senior, warmly 
advocated the affirmative. The majority of the company, 
on its being put to a vote, deciding against him, he stepped 
out from the ranks, and with sword upraised, called upon 
all who were willing to begin the 'war in earnest' to fol- 
low him. About eight responded, and with them he left 
the camp of his son, to begin his memorable career. Pro- 
ceeding up the Marais des Cygnes a short distance, he 
halted his men, and there, in the still and deep-tangled 
woods, held a council. Exactly what was said is not 
known. But Brown soon infused in his followers his own 
spirit of determination and hostility to slavery. At this 
council it was determined whenever any demonstration 
towards executing the plot to massacre Free-State men 
should be made, that certain parties should be killed on 
the spot." 

Redpath says: 

"A meeting of the intended victims was held; and it 
was determined that on the first indication of the mas- 
sacre, the Doyles, — a father and two sons, — Wilkinson, 
and Sherman should be seized, tried by lynch law, and 



120 TWENTIETH CENTUKY CLASSICS 

summarily killed. ... On the night of the 24th of May, 
the Doyles, Wilkinson, and Sherman were seized, tried, 
and slain. This act was precipitated by a brutal assault 
committed during the forenoon on a Free-State man at the 
store of Sherman, in which the Doyles were the principal 
and most ruffianly participators. These wretches, on the 
same day, called at the house of the Browns; and, both 
in words and by acts, offered the grossest indignities to a 
daughter and daughter-in-law of the old man. As they 
went away, they said, 'Tell your men that if they don't 
leave right off, we'll come back to-morrow and kill them.' 
They added, in language too vile for publication, that the 
women would then suffer the worst brutalities." 

Tuttle's History of Kansas thus portrays this feature 

of the event: 

" In addition to this instance of wanton cruelty, the 
]\Iissouri settlers about Osawatomie availed themselves of 
the absence of the free-soil fighting men, to visit and in- 
sult their wives and families, giving them orders to quit 
the Territory on pain of death. There may have been no 
deliberate intention back of all these threats, but there is 
abundant reason to be found in the tactics of the party 
elsewhere for the assumption that every Free-State settler 
would have been compelled to vacate his lot, if he could 
not defend it with his own right arm. . . . The belief 
was common that the whole settlement, and the Browns 
more particularly, would be destroyed by an act of sim- 
ultaneous assassination, and there were very few that 
wished to sit calmly down and wait for the consummation. 
x\ council of war was held, and 'Old John' advocated war 
on the instant. The majority inclined to bide the course 
of events, waiting for reinforcements and watching the 
enemy closely, but a small minority of nine, including the 
leader, declared for the arbitrament of the sword. It is 
not easy for us to determine which policy was the best. 



JOHN BROWN 



121 



The younger Browns were not among those who followed 
the more impetuous leader, but the men who had chosen the 
more eventful career were soon heard from. The little 
army of observation determined, upon mature consulta- 
tion, that certain men who were the leading spirits of the 
Pro-Slavery section, and had made themselves peculiarly 
conspicuous by their evil deeds during the Lawrence in- 
vasion, should be held responsible for the actions of their 
party, and if any indication appeared that the scheme of 
murder was to be prosecuted, they should be destroyed 
instanter, as a precautionary measure." 

The other early writers almost all declare that the men 
had a trial. There are mistakes in the works of the writers, 
and some of their errors are contained in the quotations 
given ; they appear when the statements are compared with 
what we now know to be the truth. The writers were not 
in possession of all the facts. But there is unanimity on 
the point that the men had a sort of trial. All the circum- 
stances that have come to light in later years confirm this 
view. It is not contended that this was any regular trial 
by a competent legal tribunal. It was only a sort of in- 
quiry into the danger the families were in; the evidence 
was believed to be sufficient to warrant the killing of those 
afterward slain, and they were killed accordingly. 

Brown told Mr. E. A. Coleman : " I had heard these 
men were coming to the cabin that my son and I were stay- 
ing in" (I think he said the next Wednesday night) "to set 
fire to it and shoot us as we ran out. Now that was not 
proof enough for me." He then described to Coleman 
and his wife how he disguised himself, took his surveying 
implements and ran lines by the houses of each of these 
men, recording in a book what each man said of the con- 



122 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



templated course towards the Free-State settlers. He 
found that the death of the Browns "next Wednesday 
night" had been fully determined upon. And no doubt 
he found true all that he had heard at the camp on Middle 
Ottawa creek. Anyone reading Mr. Coleman's state- 
ment of the surveying expedition and the statements of 
others concerning the running of the lines through the 
camp of Buford's men, must conclude that there were two 
surveying parties engaged in by John Brown. In that to 
the camp lie depended for his safety upon the fact that 
he was a surveyor. In the one Mr. Coleman describes he 
disguised himself, probably because he was to meet and 
talk to men who knew him well. That John Brown, and 
perhaps the others of his party, were engaged upon that 
day in finding out for themselves the exact conditions 
then and there existing, it is most reasonable to believe. 
The mere message to the camp by the settlers was not 
"proof enough" for him ; he must be convinced by his own 
investigations that they "had committed murder in their 
hearts." Having informed himself thoroughly of the in- 
tention of the Shermans and their tools, he reported to a 
meeting of the settlers assembled for the purpose of deter- 
mining what should be done. At this meeting the situa- 
tion was reviewed, the execution of the guilty parties 
determined upon, and the executioners appointed. This 
is what the statements of Governor Crawford and Mr. 
Coleman establish. These statements are founded upon 
what Brown himself said, and in each instance he avowed 
the killing and his own participation in it, and assumed his 
full share of the guilt, if guilt there was ; and as Governor 
Robinson says he did not base his reasons for this act on 



JOHN BKOWN 



123 



self-defense, he could have no object in making any mis- 
statement of these preliminary and minor affairs. All 
the circumstances point to a day spent in investigation into 
affairs; John Brown said it was; he said the sentence 
of death was passed in the meeting of settlers. It is true 
that he was an interested party, testifying in his own 
behalf. But his testimony should be as good as that of 
Townsley, who told at least three different stories of the 
expedition, and was also an interested party, speaking in 
his own interest. And this view is still further confirmed 
by what Brown told Colonel Samuel Walker, of Lawrence. 
They went to the Nebraska line to escort into Kansas 
Lane's Army of the North. We give Mr. Walker's state- 
ment at length as recorded in Sanborn's Life of Brown : 

"Then Walker said he would take him back under escort, 
with Brown's help; and they started so, with twenty or 
thirty men, and Brown among them. When they camped 
for the night,- Brown, according to his custom, went 
away to sleep by himself; and Walker describes him as 
sitting bolt upright on his saddle, with his back against a 
tree, his horse 'lariated' to the saddle-peak, and Brown 
asleep with his rifle across his knees. At early dawn 
Walker went up to waken Brown, and as he touched him on 
the shoulder Brown sprang up 'quick as a cat/ leveled, 
cocked, and discharged his piece, which Walker threw up 
with his hand in time to escape death ; but the bullet grazed 
his shoulder. 'That shows how quick he was; but he was 
frightened afterward, when he saw it was I he had fired 
at. Then,' said Walker, 'as we rode along together, Brown 
was in a sort of study ; and I said to him, "Captain Brown, 
I would n't have your thoughts for anything in the world." 
Brown said, "I suppose you are thinking about the Potta- 
watomie affair." Said I, "Yes." Then he stopped and 
looked at me and said, "Captain Walker, I saw that whole 



124 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

thing, but I did not strike a blow. I take the responsibility 
of it; but there were men who advised doing it, and after- 
ward failed to justify it"' meaning, as Walker supposed, 
Lane and Robinson. Walker now believes Brown, and can- 
not think that Townsley's statement about Brown's shoot- 
ing Doyle through the head is correct; 'for Brown would 
never tell me what was not true, and would not deny to me 
anything he had really done.' " 

Brown may have meant that Lane and Robinson advised 
and failed to justify the Pottawatomie killings, but we 
believe he meant to say here that some of the settlers in 
the vicinity advised the action and afterwards failed to 
justify it. But we recur to our former conclusion, that 
what did actually take place in the Pottawatomie settle- 
ment on the 24th day of May is not clear — is not estab- 
lished beyond doubt, and is a matter of conjecture. That 
the day was not spent in idle and fruitless argument with 
Townsley to overcome his scruples as to the number of 
men to be killed, we may well believe. John Brown, as 
Governor Robinson has well said, did not rely entirely 
upon self-defense for his justitication. But that he might 
well have rested his cause upon this ground, we now know. 
He also knew it. But in meting out justice to these 
guilty parties he looked beyond the matter of self-defense. 
It was a blow for Kansas, then prostrate and bleeding. 
And above all, it was a thrust at slavery, and time proved 
that it was one of a very serious nature to that institution. 

As to the number slain and the manner in which the 
men were killed, we are not left in doubt. Those who 
were released by the party, as well as the widows of Doyle 
and Wilkinson, made affidavits in which their recollections 
are preserved ; and the statements of Townsley confirm 



JOHN BROWN 125 



much they said, and they arc evidently in the main true. 
The Doyles were the first to meet death. Mrs. Doyle 
testified that Brown's party arrived at her house about 
eleven o'clock on Saturday night, the 24th day of May. 
The name of her husband was James P. Doyle; those of 
her slain sons were William and Drury. William was 
"about" twenty-two years of age, and Drury was "about" 
twenty, she said. The Doyles were of that class of poor 
whites that never know the precise and exact ages of their 
children. They determine the dates by some event that 
occurred about the time of their births, such as being more 
brutally intoxicated than usual, or shooting a neighbor 
or his ox or his dog, or the "high water," or "the overflow," 
or being chased from a community for petty thieving. So, 
the sons were "about" twenty-two and twenty respectively, 
as Mrs. Doyle said. 

John Brown and his sons Owen, Watson and Oliver, and 
his son-in-law, went to the house and brought out Doyle and 
his two sons. They were taken a short distance down the 
road towards the Crossing and there killed with swords. 
The son, William, attempted to escape by running away, 
but was soon overtaken and cut down. Townsley says that 
John Brown shot "the old man" Doyle in the forehead 
with his pistol; this has always been denied by the other 
members of the company. John Brown said to Captain 
Walker, "I saw the whole thing, but I did not strike a 
blow." He commanded the company, and the ruffians were 
all executed by his direction ; there was absolutely no rea- 
son why he should deny killing anyone if he had "struck 
a blow." Mrs. Doyle says she heard two shots here, and 
also a "wild whoop." There is much contradiction in the 



126 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

evidence concerning the number of shots fired by the party 
during the killing. Townsley says one was fired here by 
Brown. This does not agree with what Mrs. Doyle said. 
Townsley keeps in the background any work he may have 
done, and says he was always one of those left on guard. 
By his own statement, he was not where he could see who 
did the killing. Others of the party say they heard a shot 
below them while they were at Harris's house, and that 
they did not know what the shot meant. Those in the 
house say they heard a cap burst; they evidently heard no 
shot, and believe that the cap was exploded as a signal for 
the others to leave the house where they had been left as 
guards and return to their leader. 

It was past midnight when the party arrived at the 
house of Allen Wilkinson. His wife was sick with 
measles. He seems to have been suspicious, and to have 
manifested a strong disposition to not come out when sum- 
moned. The party forced him to open the door. His wife 
entreated for him, but he was inarched away and swiftly 
and silently slain with swords. His body was dragged 
from the road and left. Brown and his party of swift 
and terrible vengeance went noiselessly in search of the 
Shermans. 

In his statement Townsley says that the party went from 
the house of Wilkinson to that of the Shermans. Here, 
according to him, two persons were brought out and ques- 
tioned ; afterwards they were taken back to the house and 
not molested further. He says that when they were re- 
turned, William Sherman ("Dutch Bill") was brought out, 
taken to the river, and slain with swords. A Mr. James 
Harris made an affidavit for Mr. Oliver, of the Congres- 



joirx beown 127 

sional Committee of Investigation, in which he says that 
William Sherman was taken from his house. He was 
living near the house of "Dutch Henry." William Sher- 
man and two others were staying overnight with him. 
He says William Sherman was taken out, after the others 
had been taken out and brought back by Brown and his 
men, and did not return; and that at about ten o'clock the 
following morning he found Sherman lying in the creek, 
dead, his skull having boon split with some weapon. There 
are many other discrepancies in the statement of Townsley., 
and they become apparent when it is examined with the 
affidavits of the Doyles, Mrs. Wilkinson and Mr. Harris. 
There are still more to be found, and many of them 
irreconcilable, when examined with the statements of the 
other members of the body of men who did the killing on 
the Pottawatomie. The Pro-Slavery affidavits agree in 
saying that the party represented themselves as a portion 
of the "Northern Army," and searched for and carried 
away arms and ammunition, as well as saddles. One of the 
party took a pony and other horses belonging to Henry 
Sherman. 

The fact that Townsley believed William Sherman was 
taken from the house of " Dutch Henry," when in fact he 
was not, goes far to disprove his statement that he was to 
''point out the Pro-Slavery settlers" so that the creek 
might be "swept." It might be said that he was to do this 
"pointing out" in the vicinity of his own home, but he 
gives us the impression that John Brown originally de- 
pended upon him to do the guiding that was to "sweep 
the creek." Townsley doubtless tells much truth, but it is 
plain, that from some motive, he did not tell all the truth. 



128 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

In his first statement, or one of the first, he says the party 
were going from house to house in his wagon when the 
killing was done, or at least leaves us to infer that. "They 
then wanted Mr. T. to drive them to another place, but it 
was now late at night, and he declined to take them any 
farther." This is the only statement in the first of 
Townsley's "confessions" about any refusal to obey orders, 
and completely disposes of the statement in his last "con- 
fession" that this refusal was made on the first night when 
he would not consent to kill all the Pro-Slavery settlers, 
but did afterwards consent to kill some of them. The 
facetious Mr. Spring remarks that "his theological educa- 
tion had evidently been neglected." 

In one of his statements, the one upon which most re- 
liance is placed, Townsley says that from the house of 
Henry Sherman the party returned to the camp, where he 
had left his team. They remained here in camp until the 
afternoon of the following day, when they set out to return 
to the camp of the military company on Middle Ottawa 
creek, arriving there about midnight. All the evidence 
is agreed that no prisoner was carried to their camp by 
the party who did the killing. Harris says that the two 
men taken first from his house were brought back and re- 
mained with him, leaving the next morning. In 1880 one 
James Christian wrote a sensational letter in which he 
made a bid for notoriety. It will perhaps result in all the 
distinction he hoped to gain, but of a dishonorable, dis- 
reputable, and infamous variety. He says one of those 
young men was taken from the house of Mr. Harris; that 
he was detained until the next morning in the camp of 
Brown, and that when John Brown raised his hands to 



JOHN BROWN 



129 



ask a blessing upon their breakfast they were stained with 
the dried blood of his victims. This statement is improba- 
ble in itself. It is disproved by all the evidence on both 
sides. It bears all the marks of being manufactured out 
of whole cloth. It is made by a man who says another 
man gave him the information from which he writes, a 
short time before he was killed by the Browns, twenty-four 
years before the letter was written. The statement made in 
this letter is wholly disproved by the affidavit of Harris 
and by all of Townsley's statements. 

There has been much controversy as to whether John 
Brown himself killed any one of these men on the Potta- 
watomie or not. Townsley says he shot the "old man" 
Doyle with his pistol. The affidavits of the Doyles say 
that the elder Doyle had the mark of a pistol-ball on his 
forehead. John Brown told many persons that he killed 
no man at Pottawatomie, but never denied his full measure 
of responsibility for the killing of them all. It is a mat- 
ter of little importance, for he commanded the party which 
did the killing, and if the killing was a crime he was 
guilty of the blood of each and every one of the slain. 

The charge has been persistently made that John Brown 
and his men wantonly and fiendishly mutilated the dead 
bodies of the persons killed. This charge has been made 
by the bitter personal enemies of Brown. It will be re- 
membered that the men were killed with short heavy 
swords at night. The victims evidently tried to ward off 
the blows with their hands and arms, and as they were 
wholly unprotected the swords severed fingers, hands, and 
possibly arms. No blow was struck after death came to 
the misguided men. This is expressly stated by Towns- 

-9 



130 TWENTIETH CENTUPY CLASSICS 

ley. In some of the works prepared for the purpose of 
defaming the memory of John Brown the last statement 
of Townsley is published at length, but that portion of it 
which says the bodies were not intentionally mutilated and 
were not struck after death, is omitted, as is also that por- 
tion saying that the killing was a benefit to the Free-State 
cause. After this omission is made concerning the mutila- 
tion, the works in question go on and insist that the bodies 
were mutilated after death. 

When John Brown turned from the settlement toward 
his camp on Sunday morning, five men lay prone and stark 
on the Pottawatomie. They had whetted a sword for 
the Free-State settlers. John Brown turned this red blade 
against those who had taken it in hand. It was a new 
departure in the warfare in Kansas — a startling revela- 
tion at which the Pro-Slavery forces stood aghast. Cham- 
pions of freedom could no longer be murdered with im- 
punity by ruffian hordes. Henceforth men were to defend 
their families and their homes; here was notice of it; 
let him who dared to do so violate or disregard it, — lie did 
it at his peril. It was notice to the Pro-Slavery men who 
had roamed bloody-handed through the Free-State settle- 
ments that "he who takes up the sword must die by the 
sword." These five dead men lay there, a warning to the 
advocates of the issue made in the bogus Legislature, that 
a new factor had entered the contest in opposition to their 
barbarous dogma. This new factor was on the side of 
those who stood for the other issue in Kansas Territory. 
It was an assertion that the Free-State men were entitled 
to life, liberty, freedom of conscience, the protection of the 
Constitution, and equality before the law — FREEDOM. 



JOHN BROWN 



131 



Could these dead men have spoken on that Sun- 
day morning in May on the Pottawatomie, they would 
have plainly said to their misguided brethren and 
fellow-ruffians: "You invoked the sword; the people 
of Kansas submitted long and patiently while we mer- 
cilessly wielded it. The bones of her people whiten 
on the prairies; we have given their flesh as a prey 
to the fowls of the air, to the wolf and her whelps. The 
wild winds chant their requiem. Widows and orphans 
wail in cabin homes. Outraged maidens implore death 
and entreat the grave to hide their shame. Their Chris- 
tian forbearance and their fortitude have been our marvel; 
we believed them weak and courageless. In the dawn of 
this Sabbath, with fixed and glassy eyes that see not we 
look up to the pure stars, and with tongues that are forever 
stilled and speak not we proclaim to you that we have 
stood for a lie. We have devoted our energies to the es- 
tablishment of a crime against humanity. We forfeited 
our lives in the interest of a barbarous cause — one that is 
reactionary and against all law, human and divine, and 
opposed to human nature itself. The winter storm, the 
gentle rain of spring, the summer sunshine, and the glo- 
rious colorings of autumn will pass over us, and battles 
rage around us, but we shall heed them not. But to us it 
is now given to say to you that liberty and freedom must 
reign in all this land, after having been baptized in blood 
and consecrated anew on the plains of Kansas." 



CHAPTER VII. 

WAR ON THE POTTAWATOMIE— DETERMINATION. 



The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together: 
our virtues would be proud, if our faults whipped them not; and our 
rrimes would despair, if they were not cherished by our virtues. — 
Shakespeare's "All's Well that Ends Well." 

From the very day after the men were killed on the 
Pottawatomie there was never any doubt in the vicinity 
as to who had killed them. The members of the party never 
made a secret of the matter, nor of their participation in 
the killing. John Brown always declared that they were 
killed by his order, but said he had not killed any of them 
himself. It remains for ns to inquire into the effects of 
this act upon — (1) the settlers of the Pottawatomie; (2) 
upon the Free-State cause in Kansas; (3) upon the cause 
of general abolition. 

The party left the vicinity of Dutch Henry's Crossing 
on the afternoon of Sunday, and arrived at the camp of 
the company under the command of John Brown, jr., near 
the house of Ottawa Jones, about midnight. The com- 
pany had come to this point on the return to their homes. 
John Brown, jr., had been to Lawrence in the meantime, 
taking with him a number of his company. Upon his re- 
turn he had seized two slaves belonging to a Missourian 
living near Palmyra. These slaves he carried to the camp 
of his men, to be disposed of as they might decide. The 

(132) 



JOHN BROWN 



133 



company were in favor of returning them to their master, 
who had fled to Missouri. The slaves were given to a 
courier, who was ordered to overtake the master and deliver 
them to him ; this he did, and was rewarded for so doing, 
the master giving him a sidesaddle. This incident caused 
some opposition to John Brown, jr., and the opposition 
increasing, he resigned his command on Monday morning, 
May 26th. The company voted for a new commander; 
the candidates were H. H. Williams and James Townsley, 
Williams being elected. The company then broke camp 
and returned to their homes. 

G. W. Brown says that John Brown, jr., remained in- 
sane much of the following summer on account of the 
action of his father on the Pottawatomie. There are 
many of his letters in existence, some of them written at 
that time, and they do not reveal insanity. He was, soon 
after his return home, arrested upon an indictment charg- 
ing conspiracy to resist the bogus laws, and upon this 
charge was imprisoned at Lecompton. He was made in- 
sane by being driven before a body of armed Pro-Slavery 
men a whole day in June while bound with chains. 

On the 27th of May, Tuesday following the Saturday 
upon which the men were killed, a meeting of the settlers 
on the Pottawatomie condemned the killing. Their first 
resolution declared, " That we will from this time lay aside 
all sectional and political feelings and act together as men 
of reason and common-sense, determined to oppose all men 
who are so ultra in their views as to denounce men of 
opposite opinions." In their second resolution they ex- 
pressed their intention "to stay at home during these ex- 
citing times and protect, and, if possible, restore the peace 



134 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

and harmony of the neighborhood." The last resolution 
said, "That we pledge ourselves, individually and collect- 
ively, to prevent a recurrence of a similar tragedy, and to 
ferret out and hand over to the criminal authorities the 
perpetrators for punishment." 

This meeting seems to have been more in the nature of 
a precautionary measure than of a determined effort to 
apprehend John Brown and his men. In fact, neither 
party regarded it as affording any guaranty of protection. 
For a short time there were armed incursions into the 
neighborhood from Missouri and other parts of the Terri- 
tory. The headquarters of these were at Paola, and they 
ranged the country in search of those against whom the 
courts had found indictments for resistance to the bogus 
laws — a continuation of the campaign so recently con- 
cluded against Lawrence. There is little doubt that the 
killing of Wilkinson and others directed the attention of 
the Pro-Slavery men to the Pottawatomie settlements, and 
that they overran them for a short time. But this did 
not continue long; the "law and order" settlers left in 
great numbers, and returned to Missouri and other slave 
States. In order to make the Pottawatomie killings the 
cause for all the woes which afterwards fell upon Kansas, 
some writers of Kansas Territorial history assert that the 
sacking of Lawrence was a great victory for the Free-State 
party, and the end of the Territorial troubles; and that 
these troubles would not have again revived if the Potta- 
watomie affair had not occurred. I have searched dili- 
gently for some confirmation of this strange conclusion, 
but can find none. I find no evidence that Buford was 
withdrawn from the Territory, and none that it was con- 



JOHN BROWN 135 

templated that he should withdraw. None of his camps 
were abandoned, but all of them were strengthened. Some 
of the Missourians returned home, but remained only long 
enough to replenish their supply of whisky and dispose of 
the plunder carried from their defeat ( ?) at Lawrence ! I 
have failed to find any order for the release of Governor 
Eobinson and other Free-State treason prisoners ! On the 
contrary, I find that the work of increasing their number 
*went persistently on. Officers scoured the Territory, not 
to apprehend the men who had killed the ruffians on the 
Pottawatomie, but to capture men for whom they had 
warrants for resistance to the bogus laws. The campaign 
for which such elaborate preparations had been made in 
the previous winter, and which had threatened to break 
over the border since March, continued, and continued all 
summer, and would have continued all summer if the men 
on the Pottawatomie had never been killed. There is some 
evidence that the Pro-Slavery forces used the incident in 
Missouri to inflame the people and get them to rally to the 
work determined upon, but this seems not to have been 
very successful. War extras of newspapers were thrown 
into steamboats, but the people of Missouri needed nothing 
of this kind to whet them for the campaign; they had 
made preparation for it for months, and they intended to 
prosecute it until the bogus laws were triumphant or the 
last Free-State man was driven from the Territory or 
exterminated. And they were too well acquainted with 
the characters killed to shed any false and sentimental 
tears over their fate. They regarded the matter in its true 
light, and as an incident of the war, and would have re- 
spected the Free-State men more and have departed to 



136 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



their homes much sooner if this resistance had manifested 
itself earlier and over larger areas. They were waging 
war, and expected that others would wage war against 
them. 

Let us examine the record to some extent for the results 
of the Pottawatomie killings. We will first introduce Mr. 
Townsley, who continued to live in that locality for more 
than thirty years. Mr. Clark, in writing down Townsley's 
first statement or "confession," says: "On May 24, 1855, 
William Sherman called at the house of John T. Grant, 
a Free-State man from New York, and there, in anger and 
in liquor, told the Grant family that they (the Pro-Slavery 
men) intended to drive out the Free-State men from 
Pottawatomie creek and other parts of Kansas. This 
alarmed Grant, and he sent his son George to the camp of 
John Brown, who was at that time on Ottawa creek, some 
twenty- five miles northwest. Upon arriving in camp, 
young Grant told John Brown the condition of things in 
his neighborhood, and the trouble anticipated if help was 
not had immediately. And here it is proper to state that 
news had come from Kansas City that Buford had or- 
ganized and armed a large force of Georgia immigrants, 
and was about to march upon Kansas. The news had also 
arrived that Lawrence was in ashes, and that our Free- 
State Governor, Kobinson, was a prisoner in the hands of 
Pro-Slavery 'border ruffians/ at Leavenworth. In brief, 
it was a time of terror so appalling that it was felt that 
the destiny of Kansas was trembling in the balance, and 
its fate about to be decided." This is the testimony of 
Mr. Clark, put as a preface to the statement of Townsley. 
In Townsley's second extensive statement he says : " I 



JOHN BROWN 137 

did not then approve of the killing of those men. . . . 
In after-years my opinion changed as to the wisdom of 
the massacre. / became, and am, satisfied that it resulted 
in good to the Free-State cause, and was especially bene- 
ficial to the Free-State settlers on Pottawatomie creek. 
The Pro-Slavery men were dreadfully terrified, and large 
numbers of them soon left the Territory. It was after- 
wards said that one Free-State man could scare a company 
of them." In his last statement he uses exactly the same 
language. 

Colonel Samuel F. Tappan says: 

" In the summer of 1856 I was at Leavenworth as 
clerk of the Congressional Committee investigating Free- 
State affairs. A reign of terror prevailed. Free-State 
men, women and children were forcibly driven from their 
homes, put upon steamers, and sent down the river. Free- 
State men were arrested by a mob of Buford men, and 
imprisoned in the basement of a warehouse. Miles Moore, 
M. J. Parrott, Charles Robinson, Judge Wakefield, and 
others, were also held as prisoners in the city. This con- 
tinued until one afternoon the Herald (General Eastin, 
editor) published an extra about six inches long — giving 
an account of the horrible murder by John Brown, of 
Wilkinson and six [four] others, on Pottawatomie creek, 
southeastern Kansas. This put a stop to further demands 
upon Free-State men, and they were all soon after released. 
The Buford men remained quiet, no longer appearing 
in the street under arms. In a few days I took passage 
in [a] mail-coach for Lawrence, with S. C. Smith. Mr. 
Weibling, who had been a prisoner, drove the team. Judge 
Wakefield, having been released, was also on the coach, 
and we drove to Lawrence without further trouble." 

We give the statement of John B. Manes : " I came to 
Kansas in 1854. I worked for the Shermans in the sum- 



138 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



mer of 1855. Have often heard them say that the d — d 
Yankees on the Pottawatomie ought to have and would 
have their d — d throats cut. 

" While Weiner was absent at the defense of Lawrence, 
Mr. Benjamin, who was Weiner's partner in a store on 
Mosquito Branch, was warned to leave in five days, or have 
his store, himself and his family burned. The old man 
Doyle and William Sherman were the men who warned 
him to leave. The Grant family was warned to leave in 
the same limit of time, and on pain of murder and destruc- 
tion of property if they refused to heed the warning. At 
the time of the warning William Sherman flourished a 
bowie-knife, and threatened to cut the d — d Yankee heart 
out of Mary Grant, the daughter of the Grant referred to 
in Townsley's testimony. Other Free-State people were 
warned to leave on penalty of death if they remained, and 
the time was about up, these men being killed before the 
expiration of the 'five days.' 

" I was but a boy of 13 or 14 at this time, but know what 
there occurred as well as anyone could know who didn't 
see all that was done and hear all that was said, as indeed 
no one person could. Being a boy, I was often sent on 
errands when it was thought older people could not §o 
without being murdered by 'border ruffians'; and at this 
time of dread, when even my nearest kindred dared not 
move abroad without danger of being assaulted or killed, 
I would not be likely to forget what was generally believed 
to be the danger surrounding those who were in favor of 
a free State. 

" I know that my father was knocked down for having 
a New York Tribune in his pocket. I know that my 
father's house and brother-in-law's store were burned to 
ashes. I know there was a reign of terror, of which those 
men who were killed were the authors ; and I am sur- 
prised that anyone should believe that the killing of those 
men was without excuse. Were the Free-State men to 
abandon Kansas ? Were thev to fold their arms in mar- 



JOHN BROWN 



139 



tyrdom at the end of five days ? Or were they to slay their 
would-be murderers before the fifth day arrived ? Which 
of these ?" 

It has often been said that these settlers who stood in 
the shadow of death on the Pottawatomie should have ap- 
pealed to courts. This was the cry of the impracticables 
and non-resistants in John Brown's clay, and was later 
heard in New England, chiefly through the efforts of Eli 
Thayer, and in the Administrative circles of the Govern- 
ment, and wherever the enemies of Kansas as a free State 
did then congregate. This was so manifestly absurd and 
ridiculous that Emerson gave it his attention : " In this 
country for the last few years the Government has been 
the chief obstruction to the common weal. Who doubts 
that Kansas would have been very well settled if the 
United States had let it alone ? The Government armed 
and led the ruffians against the poor farmers. . . . 
In the free States we give a sniveling support to slavery. 
The judges give cowardly interpretations to the law, in 
direct opposition to the known foundation of all law, — that 
every immoral statute is void. And here, of Kansas, the 
President says, 'Let the complainants go to the courts'; 
though he knows that when the poor plundered farmer 
comes to the court, he finds the ringleader who has robhed 
him dismounting from his own horse, and unbuckling his 
knife to sit as his judge." 

Charles Robinson was the Free-State Governor of Kan- 
sas at the time these men were killed by John Brown on 
the Pottawatomie. Having the interests of the Eree-State 
men of Kansas in his charge, and it being his business to 
know the conditions everywhere prevailing, he bestowed 



140 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

upon John Brown the highest praise and most flattering 
panegyrics. In 1878 he said : " I never had much doubt 
that Captain Brown was the author of the blow at Potta- 
watomie, for the reason that he was the only man who 
comprehended the situation and saw the absolute necessity 
of some such blow, and had the nerve to strike it." 

Sanborn quotes Colonel Samuel Walker : 

"Colonel Walker, of Lawrence, in quoting to me 
Brown's saying in August, 1882, — 'the Pottawatomie exe- 
cution was a just act, and did good,' — added: 'I must 
say he told the truth. It did a great deal of good by terri- 
fying the Missourians. I heard Governor Robinson say 
this himself in his speech at Osawatomie in 1877 ; he said 
he rejoiced in it then, though it put his own life in dan- 
ger, — for he [Robinson] was a prisoner at Lecompton 
[Leavenworth] when Brown killed the men at Pottawato- 
mie." 

We again quote from Sanborn : 

"At a public meeting held in Lawrence, Dec. 19, 1859, 
(according to the newspaper reports at the time,) the citi- 
zens passed resolutions concerning the Pottawatomie execu- 
tions, declaring 'that according to the ordinary rules of 
war said transaction was not unjustifiable, but that it was 
performed from the sad necessity which existed at that 
time to defend the lives and liberties of the settlers in that 
region.' This resolution was supported by Charles Rob- 
inson, who said that he had always believed that John 
Brown was connected with that movement. Indeed, he 
believed Brown had told him so, or to that effect; and 
when he first heard of the massacre, he thought it was 
about right. A war of extermination was in prospect, and 
it was as well for Free-State men to kill Pro-Slavery men, 
as for Pro-Slavery men to kill Free-State men." 



JOHN BROWN 



141 



In 1877 the people of the Pottawatomie settlements, 
being proud of the part their ancestors took in the battle 
Avhich made Kansas free, and desiring to commemorate 
their heroic deeds, joined with the survivors of those bat- 
tles in the erection of a monument to those who fell in 
the great cause. This monument was built at Osawatomie, 
where it now stands, and was dedicated August 30, 1877. 
It was fitting that the old Free-State Governor, the Hon. 
Charles Robinson, under whose direction the struggle was 
carried on, should preside over the ceremonies of dedica- 
tion, and he did. He delivered two addresses upon the 
occasion, one at the monument and one to an audience of 
citizens who came to pay him honor at the residence where 
he was a guest, in Paola, the county seat of the county 
in which the monument was erected. He said : 

" This is an occasion of no ordinary merit, being for 
no less an object than to honor and keep fresh the memory 
of those who freely offered their lives for their fellow-men. 
We are told that 'scarcely for a righteous man will one 
die, yet peradventure for a good man some would dare to 
die' ; but the men whose death we commemorate this day, 
cheerfully offered themselves a sacrifice for strangers and 
a despised race. They were men of convictions, though 
death stared them in the face. They were cordial haters 
of oppression, and would fight injustice wherever found; 
if framed into law, then they would fight the law ; if up- 
hold and enforced by government, then government must 
be resisted. They were of Revolutionary stock, and held 
that when a long train of abuses had put the people under 
absolute despotism, it was right and duty to throw off such 
government and provide guards for future security. The 
soul of John Brown was the inspiration of the Union 
armies in the emancipation war, and will be the inspiration 
of all men in the present and distant future who may re- 



142 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

volt against tyranny and oppression; because he dared to 
be a traitor to the government that he might be loyal to 
humanity. To the superficial observer, John Brown was 
a failure. So was Jesus of aSTazareth. Both suffered 
ignominious death as traitors to the government, yet one 
is now hailed as the savior of the world from sin, and 
the other of a race from bondage." 

August Bondi was a resident of the " Dutch settlement'' 
on the Pottawatomie at the time. This settlement had in- 
curred the enmity of the Shermans, Wilkinson, and the 
1 )oyles, because it was composed of men who desired that 
Kansas should be a free State. In this settlement was 
the store of Weiner and Benjamin, which the ruffians 
burned. Mr. Bondi says: "At 9 o'clock that evening 
(22d) a messenger from Pottawatomie creek arrived and 
reported that the Pro-Slavery men there (Wilkinson, 
Doyle and sons, William and Dutch Henry Sherman) 
had gone from house to house of Free-State men and 
threatened that shortly the Missourians would be there 
and make a clean sweep of them, and at many places 
where the men were absent grossly insulted their wives 
and daughters." 

General Jo. O. Shelby, of Missouri, was a great ad- 
mirer of John Browri, and often referred to his brave acts 
in the border wars in Kansas and to his heroic death in 
Virginia. He delighted to tell "how Captain Pate cap- 
tured John Brown at Black Jack," and this he could tell 
in an inimitable manner that would "set the table in a 
roar." General Shelby was one of the bravest and most 
chivalrous of soldiers, and could appreciate bravery in 
another, even though an enemy. He said of John Brown : 



JOHN BBOWN 



143 



" I knew him well. I freighted with him in Kansas, 
and I fought him in Kansas. I knew him thoroughly, 
and I tell you a braver or more gallant man never 
breathed. It is all a mistake to say John Brown was a 
coward." 

" Do you think he murdered people as charged ? " 
" Why, of course he did, but it was simply a measure 
of retaliation. He didn't have any the best of us. We 
killed and John Brown killed ; there was no difference on 
that score." 

Hon. James F. Legate was one of the first settlers in 
Kansas. He had settled in Douglas county before Law- 
rence was founded. No man in Kansas ever knew the 
conditions existing here in the Territorial days better 
than Mr. Legate knows them. He wrote the following 
in December, 1879 : 

"Out of the history being written by George W T . Brown, 
a trial is made to make of John Brown a murderer rather 
than a martyr. 

" Hatred must have its full share in the promptings 
of such a history. We believe old John Brown planned 
the killing of Wilkinson, Sherman and the Doyles, and 
perhaps was one of the actors in the drama. But if that 
be true, he was not a murderer, for it was the sacrificing 
of human life for the advancement of a great cause. 

" Wilkinson was especially a bad man, and the leader 
of the Doyles and others in raids against the Free-State 
men. The Georgia company had built a fort just below 
or south of there, and murder and robbery and arson was 
their daily avocation. Wilkinson, Sherman and the 
Doyles were parties to all their crimes. These men were 
scouts and spies of the Georgians. The Georgians were 
planning to murder the whole Free-State settlement in the 
neighborhood of Osawatomie, and would have executed 
their plans but for this interposition. Brown knew it, 



144 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

and the Free-State men throughout the Territory know it. 
But it was hard to explain to the Eastern, moral people 
why it was necessary to take such steps, and it never was 
explained, denounced or justified. 

" But the result of that deed was peace in the Territory. 
Before this time, the Pro-Slavery settlers were active par- 
ticipants in the Pro-Slavery raids in the Territory; they 
justified the deeds of the Pro-Slavery ruffians, but after 
that, even the Pro-Slavery men were active in their oppo- 
sition to the atrocities of the border ruffians, and did their 
full share in stopping them. It made those Southerners, 
who were committing all manner of depredations, feel 
that their lives were not secure and that they must measure 
their conduct by the exigencies of the times, and they were 
less offensive. It emboldened the Free-State men to assert 
their rights, and in asserting their rights they won a 
victory for freedom. 

"John Brown planned the taking of the lives of these 
men in the interest of peace and freedom, and if he exe- 
cuted the plan himself he was a hero, not a murderer." 

In relation to the part played by the Blue Lodges of 
Missouri in the preparation of the campaign to be waged 
against Kansas in the spring of 1856, we quote S. 1ST. 
Wood, one of the first settlers in Douglas county. He was 
a member of an anti-slavery organization there early in 
June. He was a prominent actor in the stirring times of 
Territorial days, and the object of much hatred by Missou- 
rians. He says: 

" The Blue Lodges of Missouri and Kansas were secret 
organizations, whose members swore, on peril of their lives, 
to make a slave State of Kansas. In the fall of 1855 they 
became very active and strong; and one of the members, 
whose conscience revolted against murder even in the in- 
terest of slavery, revealed the fact that a new policy had 



JOHN BROWN 



145 



been agreed upon: Free-State men were to be killed pri- 
vately — struck down, one to-day in one place, one to- 
morrow in another, until no Free-State man would feel 
safe. This put every man on his guard." 

Judge James Han way was a resident in the settlement 
on the Pottawatomie. He was a member of the company 
railed the " Pottawatomie Kifles," of which John Brown, 
jr., was captain. He was a man of good mind, and did 
much for the intellectual development of Kansas. He was 
a just man and a good citizen. He was a member of the 
convention which formed the present State Constitution. 
His ability and integrity were everywhere recognized, and 
his attainments were great. He was one of the men in- 
vited to go with the party under John Brown to the Potta- 
watomie. He refused, and tried to induce the company to 
wait until all could return together. He knew that the 
eompany left the camp with the avowed purpose of killing 
some of the ruffians on the Pottawatomie, should conditions 
there be found as represented. He often declared that 
James Harris told him that when John Brown and his men 
came into his house in search of the ruffians, his wife sup- 
posed they were the men from Missouri come to expel or 
murder the Free-State settlers. It is also said that she 
arose and commenced to prepare something for them to eat, 
under the impression that they were the expected Missouri 
ruffians. Judge Hanway always said that the account 
that Harris gave of the affair to his neighbors was very 
different from that contained in his affidavit. Judge 
Hanway says, further: 

" I was informed by one of the party of eight who left 
our camp on Ottawa creek, May 22, 1856, to visit the 
—10 



146 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

Pottawatomie, what their object and purposes were. I 
protested, and begged them to desist. Of course my plea 
availed nothing. After the dreadful affair had taken 
place, and after a full investigation of the whole matter, 
1, like many others, modified my opinion. Good men and 
kind-hearted women in 1856 differed in regard to this 
affair, in which John Brown and his party were the lead- 
ing actors. John Brown justified it, and thought it a 
necessity; others differed from him then, as they do now. 
I have had an excellent opportunity to investigate the 
matter, and, like others of the early settlers, was finally 
forced to the conclusion that the Pottawatomie 'massacre,' 
as it is called, prevented the ruffian hordes from carrying 
out their programme of expelling the Free-State men from 
this portion of the Territory of Kansas. It was this view 
of the case which reconciled the minds of the settlers on 
the Pottawatomie. They would whisper to one another: 
'It was fortunate for us ; for God only knows what our 
fate and condition would have been, if old John Brown 
had not driven terror and consternation into the ranks 
of the Pro-Slavery party.' " 

In a communication to Judge Adams, Secretary of the 
State Historical Society, February 1, 1878, Jud*re TTan- 
way says : 

" So far as public opinion in the neighborhood where 
the affair took place is concerned, I believe I may state 
that the first news of the event produced such a shock that 
public opinion was considerable divided ; but after the 
whole circumstances became better known, there was a 
reaction of public opinion ; and the Free-State settlers 
who had claims on the creek considered that Capt. Brown 
and his party of eight had performed a justifiable act, 
which saved their homes and dwellings from threatened 
raids of the Pro-Slavery party." 



JOIIX BROWN 



147 



We have seen that Mrs. Harris was aware that ruffians 
from Missouri were expected to arrive to aid the Pro- 
Slavery settlers in their work of expelling the Free-State 
families on the Pottawatomie. There is no doubt that 
Mrs. AVilkinson had been apprised also that such was the 
plan being matured for the ejection of the Free-State 
neighbors around her. Sanborn says: 

" Mrs. Wilkinson, an unfortunate woman who had tried 
in vain to keep her husband from engaging in the outrages 
against their Free-State neighbors, was visited early in the 
morning after the executions, by Dr. Gillpatrick and Mr. 
Grant, two Free-State men, who went to her house (which 
was the postoffice) to get their mail. They found the poor 
woman weeping, and saying that a party of men had been 
to the house during the night and taken her husband out; 
she had heard that morning that Mr. Doyle had been 
killed within the night, and she was afraid that her hus- 
band had been killed also. Among other reasons she gave 
for fearing this, he had said to her the night before that 
there was going to be an attack made upon the Free-State 
men, and that by the next Saturday night there would not 
be a Free-State settler left on the creek. These, she said, 
were his last words to her the night before as they were 
going to sleep." 

Professor Spring was particularly unjust to Brown in 
his history of Kansas. But later, he made a modification 
of his views, and says: 

"The Dutch Henry's Crossing of 1882 is a paradise of 
rural peace and happiness. Here quiet and security seem 
to have reached their utmost limit. The Pottawatomie — 
half limpid, with slighter mixtures of discoloring mud than 
any Kansas stream that I have seen — winds languidly 
between beautifully shaded banks towards the Marais des 



148 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

Cygnes. The vast fields of corn and wheat, with their 
picturesque borders of orange hedge, lie mapped upon the 
rolling prairie in every direction, — 

" 'As quietly as spots of sky 
Among the evening clouds.' 

"The Dutch Henry's Crossing of 1856 stands in an- 
tithesis to all this Arcadian repose. Then there was no 
law hut force, no rule but violence, in the Territory of 
Kansas. A veritable reign of terror was inaugurated. 
Marauders were prowling about, in whose eyes nothing 
was sacred that stood in the way of their passions. Thn 
opposing factions into whose hands the question of slavery 
or no slavery for Kansas had fallen, hunted each other like 
wolves. Pistol-shots and sword-slits were the prevailing 
style of argument." 

We shall see later that he finally gained a correet esti- 
mate of the results of the descent of John Brown upon the 
ruffians of the Pottawatomie. 

The outrages on the Grant family have been spoken of, 
Imt a more specific statement will be given: 

"My father, John T. Grant, came from Oneida county, 
X. Y., and settled on Pottawatomie creek, in 1854. We 
were near neighbors of the Shermans, of the Doyles, and of 
Wilkinson, who were afterwards killed. There was a com- 
pany of Georgia Border Ruffians encamped on the Marais 
des Cygnes, about four miles away from us, who had been 
committing outrages upon the Free-State people ; and these 
Pro-Slavery men were in constant communication with 
them. They had a courier who went backward and for- 
ward carrying messages. When we heard on the Pottawa- 
tomie that the Border Ruffians were threatening Lawrence, 
and the Free-State wanted help, we immediately began to 
prepare to go their assistance. Frederick Brown, son of 
John Brown, went to a store at Dutch Henry's Crossing, 
kept by a Mr. Morse, from Michigan, known as old Squire 



JOHN BROWN 



149 



Morse, a quiet, inoffensive old Free-State man, living there 
with his two boys, and bought some bars of lead, — say 
* twenty or thirty pounds. He brought the lead to my 
father's house on Sunday morning, and my brother Henry 
C. Grant and my sister Mary spent the whole day in 
running Sharps' and other rifle bullets for the company. 
As Frederick Brown was bringing this lead to our house, 
he passed Henry Sherman's house, and several Pro- 
Slavery men, among them Doyle and his two sons, William 
Sherman, and others, were sitting on a fence, and inquired 
what he was going to do with it. He told them he was go- 
ing to run it into bullets for Free-State guns. They 
were apparently much incensed at his reply, as they knew 
that the Free-State company was then preparing to go to 
Lawrence. The next morning, after the company had 
started to go to Lawrence, a number of Pro-Slavery 
men — Wilkinson, Doyle, and his two sons, and Will- 
iam Sherman, known as i Dutch Bill' — took a rope 
and went to old Squire Morse's house, and said they 
were going to hang him for selling the lead to the 
Free-State men. They frightened the old man ter- 
ribly; but told him he must leave the country be- 
fore eleven o'clock, or they would hang him. They then 
left and went to the Shermans' and went to drinking. 
About eleven o'clock a portion of them, half drunk, went 
back to Mr. Morse's, and were going to kill him with an 
axe. His little boys — one was only nine years old — set 
up a violent crying, and begged for their father's life. 
They finally gave him until sundown to leave. He left 
everything, and came at once to our house. He was nearly 
frightened to death. He came to our house carrying a 
blanket and leading his little boy by the hand. When 
night came he was so afraid that he would not stay in the 
house, but went outdoors and slept on the prairie in the 
grass. For a few days he lay about in the brush, most of 
the time getting his meals at our house. He was then taken 
violently ill and died in a very short time. Dr. Gillpat- 



150 



TWENTIETH CENTUKY CLASSICS 



rick attended him during his brief illness, and said his 
death was directly caused by the fright and excitement 
of that terrible day when he was driven from his store. 
The only thing they had against Mr. Morse was his selling 
the lead, and this he had previously bought of Henry 
Sherman, who had brought it from Kansas City. While 
the Free-State company was gone to Lawrence, Henry 
Sherman came to my father's house and said: 'We have 
ordered old Morse out of the country, and he has got to 
go, and a good many others of the Free-State families have 
got to go.' The general feeling among the Free-State 
people was one of terror while the company was gone, as 
we did not know at what moment the Georgia ruffians 
might come in and drive us all out." 

As tending to show that Brown was justifiable, I give 
additional instances — among them some further quotations 
from the writings of Judge Hanway and Governor Robin- 
son: 

" It was thought that the effect of the Pottawatomie 
affair would be disastrous to the settlers who had taken up 
their quarters in this locality. For a few weeks it looked 
ominous. I spent most of my time in the brush. The set- 
tlement was overrun by the 'law and order men,' who took 
every man prisoner whom they came across, 'jay-hawked' 
horses and saddles, and even, in several cases, work-cattle; 
but after these raids ceased, the Pro-Slavery element be- 
came willing to bury the hatchet and live in peace. The 
most ultra of those who had been leaders left the Terri- 
tory, only to return at periods to burn the house of some 
obnoxious Free-State man. The Pottawatomie affair sent 
a terror into the Pro-Slavery ranks, and those who re- 
mained on the creek were as desirous of peace as any 
class of the community." 

As a note to the foregoing, Mr. Sanborn has the follow- 
ing: 



JOHN BROWN 151 

"As to the wisdom of John Brown's general policy of 
brave resistance and stern retaliation, the sagacious Judge 
Hanway says: 'In the early Kansas troubles I considered 
the extreme measures which he adopted as not the best 
under the circumstances. We were weak, and cut off, as 
it were, from our friends. Our most bitter enemies re- 
ceived their support from an adjoining State. We were 
not in a condition to resist by force the power of the Bor- 
der Ruffians, backed and supported as they were by the 
Administration at Washington. Events afterwards proved 
that the most desperate remedies, as in the Pottawatomie 
affair, were best. In place of being the forerunner of 
additional strife and turmoil, the result proved it was a 
peace measure.' Charles Robinson, in an article written 
for the 'Kansas Magazine' many years ago, said of the 
executions by Brown: 'They had the effect of a clap of 
thunder from a clear sky. The slave men stood aghast. 
The officials were frightened at this new move on the part 
of the supposed subdued free men. This was a warfare 
they were not prepared to wage, as of the bona fide settlers 
there were four free men to one slave man.' ' 

The Pottawatomie executions were the work of John 
Brown. No meeting of outraged citizens to condemn mur- 
derers to death would have been held on the Pottawatomie 
had not John Brown left the camp of the Free-State com- 
pany on Middle Ottawa creek and returned to the settle- 
ments at Dutch Henry's Crossing. Whether he killed any 
with his own hand is of no consequence so far as respon- 
sibility is concerned. Each one of the eight, whatever his 
part in the actual work, stood upon precisely the same 
ground. John Brown never denied his participation in 
this foray, and he always avowed his responsibility for 
it. The utmost of his denial was that he had not killed 
anyone with his own hand. "Captain Brown, did you 



152 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

kill those five men on the Pottawatomie, or did you not?" 
asked Mrs. Coleman. "I did not; but I do not pretend 
to say they were not killed by my order; and in doing so 
I believe I was doing God's service," he replied without 
hesitation. So he always said. This avowal was in the 
summer of 1856, and but a short time after the killing. 
This was always known in Kansas to be the position of 
John Brown ; that he killed those men with his company 
there was never the slightest doubt. The denials attributed 
to him are the work of Mr. Redpath, principally, and 
always did Brown an injustice; they were made without 
his knowledge or consent. 

Had not John Brown killed the ruffians on the Pot- 
tawatomie, the campaign against the Free-State men for 
the enforcement of the bogus laws would have been suc- 
cessful. The Free-State men held for treason would have 
been killed or sentenced to long terms of imprisonment 
in Federal prisons. Liberty would have been trampled 
down by ruthless barbarians and washed into the earth 
by the blood of martyrs for her cause. Slavery, with legal 
mien and hypocritical face, "but ending foul, in many a ' 
scaly fold," would have encircled Kansas in fatal coils. 
If freedom's cause had failed in Kansas, the conflict 
would have been delayed and a future generation would 
have been compelled to battle with greater difficulties. 
Who sees no more in this raid on the Pottawatomie than 
the mere protection of a few families, (though as a matter 
of justification, that was for it a sufficient cause,) has read 
the history of his country in vain. While it was indeed 
that, it was primarily much more than that : it was a blow 
against slavery in America. It was the opportunity long 



JOHN BROWN 



153 



sought by John Brown. For this purpose he came to Kan- 
sas. Compromise with crime was, in his eyes, a crime. If 
slavery was a curse, it was the duty of men everywhere 
to attack it. Many of the leaders of Kansas were in favor 
of dissimulation. Their opposition must be carried for- 
ward while they rendered a passive submission to the pow- 
ers they were battling against. Attacks must be covertly 
made, so that if need be they could be effectively disa- 
vowed. This double-dealing was scorned by John Brown. 
He saw evil standing as a menace to humanity. His duty 
was clear to him ; his resolution was, Let others do as they 
may ; in God's name I will battle against it as best I can ; 
1 should be joined by all men, but if I must fight alone, 
then be it so. The old truism, that a man should be true 
to duty though he stand alone, was exemplified by John 
Brown on the Pottawatomie. He came from that field 
confirmed in his own belief that he was chosen of God to 
battle against the foul "institution that threatened his 
country and oppressed humanity. His fame spread 
abroad, and for a season the campaign against freedom 
in Kansas was diverted from its purpose and turned 
against John Brown ; and at this he rejoiced. 

The following is a quotation from Professor Spring: 

" It may be that this modern Mr. Valiant for Truth 
was a fanatic. I am not disturbed by that word. Every 
great cause has so fascinated some men — so taken posses- 
sion of their souls, subduing, inspiring, harnessing them to 
its service, so bounding their visions by its horizon — that 
they have been indifferent to other questions and inter- 
ests. The passion of liberty enslaved John Brown. In his 
judgment, violence alone could save the day ; violence was 
the charmed weapon for the impending contest; and the 



154 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



bloody instrument which he seized did not break in his 
hand. I recall a sentence in Oliver Cromwell's dispatch 
announcing the storming and massacre of Drogheda, which 
is at once a declaration of Brown's motive and prophecy 
of his hope when he lifted his hand against the cabins on 
the Pottawatomie: 'Truly, I believe this bitterness will 
save much effusion of blood, through the goodness of God !' 
" Was the fanatic's expectation realized ? Did the event 
approve his sagacity ? I think there is but one answer to 
questions like these. After all, the fanatic was wiser than 
the philosopher. The effect of his retaliatory policy, in 
checking outrages, in bringing to a pause the depredations 
of bandits, in staying the proposed execution of Free-State 
prisoners, was marvelous. The raid upon Dutch Henry's 
Crossing is not least among the deeds that saved Kansas 
to liberty." 

In the February, 1884, North American Review, Sena- 
tor John J. Ingalls said: 

" Judge Hanway, before quoted, says : 

" ' I did not know of a settler of '50 but what regarded 
it as amongst the most fortunate events in the history of 
Kansas. It saved the lives of the Free-State men on the 
Creek, and those who did the act were looked upon as 
deliverers.' 

"One of the most eminent of the Free-State leaders, 
v/ho is still living, writes: 

" ' He was the only man who comprehended the situa- 
tion, and saw the absolute necessity for some such blow, 
and had the nerve to strike it.' 

"Another prominent actor writes : 

" ' I wish to say right here about the Pottawatomie 
Creek massacre, which has been the theme of so much 
magazine literature, that at the time it occurred it was 
approved by myself and hundreds of others, including the 
most prominent of the leaders amongst the Free-State 



JOHN BROWN 1^5 

men. It was one of the stern, merciless necessities of the 
times. The night it was done I was but a few miles away 
on guard, to protect from destruction the homes of Free- 
State men and their families, who had been notified by 
these men and their allies to leave within a limited time 
or forfeit their lives and property. The women and chil- 
dren dared not sleep in the houses, and were hid away in 
the thickets. Something had to be done, and the avenger 
appeared, and the doomed men perished, — they who had 
doomed others.' 

" It was the 'blood and iron' prescription of Bismarck. 
The pro-slavery butchers of Kansas and their Missouri 
confederates learned that it was no longer safe to kill. 
They discovered, at last, that nothing is so unprofitable 
as injustice. They started from the guilty dream to find 
before them, silent and tardy, but inexorable and relent- 
less, with uplifted blade, the awful apparition of vengeance 
and retribution." 

I cannot close this chapter in any more suitable manner 
than by adding the testimony of the most eminent histo- 
rian who has ever written of Kansas, D. W. Wilder, author 
of the "Annals of Kansas" : 

" May 24-25. — James P. Doyle and his two sons, and 
William Sherman and Allen Wilkinson (a member of the 
Bogus Legislature), all Pro-Slavery, taken from their 
homes at night and murdered. They lived on the Potta- 
watomie, in Franklin county. Capt. John Brown led the 
party that did the deed. No other act spread such conster- 
nation among the ruffians, or contributed so powerfully to 
make Kansas free. Hitherto, murder had been an ex- 
clusive Southern privilege. The Yankee could 'argue' and 
make speeches; he did not dare to kill anybody. Blood 
sprinkles all the pages of history." 



THE TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 
AND SCHOOL READINGS 

UNDER THE EDITORIAL SUPERVISION OF 

W. M. DAVIDSON 

SUPERINTENDENT OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF TOPEKA, KANSAS 



John Brown 




_4 



BOUIIBOPC 

Pott Scofto 



s 



MAP 

S j i j*w n\g t Ke A fe a of t li 6 X a r 1 nj K 5 ii s a sWj^ 



D v a 



By 



Wlllilm E- Gon uellevj J^o.-* 1 lie Life ojTohn B •* ° w a. 



" What judgment soever political loyalty, social ethics, or mili- 
tary strategy may pronounce upon his expedition into Virginia, Old 

John Brown has a grasp on the moral world." 

— Ii. H. Dana, Jr. 



" Whatever may be thought of John Brown's acts, John Brown 

himself was right." 

— John A. Andrew, Governor of Massachusetts. 



" But the three men of this era who will loom forever against the 
remotest horizon of time, as the pyramids above the voiceless desert, 
or mountain-peaks over the subordinate plains, are Abraham Lincoln, 
Ulysses S. Grant, and Old John Brown of Osawatomie." 

— John J. Inyalls. 



A TRIBUTE TO JOHN BROWN. 
Against this crime of crimes he fought and fell; 
He freed a race and found a prison-cell; 
In mid-air hung upon the gibbet's tree, 
But lived and died, thank God, to make men free. 
And dusky men the ages down will tell, 
For what he fought, and how he bravely fell; 
And. dim the jewels in each earthly croicn, 
Beside the luster of thy name, John Brown. 

— Joseph G. Waters. 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS AND SCHOOL READINGS 



John Brown 



WILLIAM ELSEY CONNELLEY, 

Author of "The Provisional Government of Nebraska Territory,-" "James Henry 

Lane, the Grim Chieftain of Kansas," " Wyandot Folk-Lore," 

"Kansas Territorial Governors," etc., etc. 



VOLUME II. 



For true words are things, 

And dying men's are things which long outlive, 

And oftentimes avenge them. 

— Byron. 

Beautiful it is to understand and know that a Thought 

did never yet die ; that as thou, the originator thereof, hast 

gathered and created it from the whole Past, so thou wilt 

transmit it to the whole Future. 

— Carlyle. 



Crane & Company, Publishers 

Topeka, Kansas 

1900 



54655 

Library of Congr*** 

"•v.* Cones Received 
OCT 1 1900 

Copyright wtry 

SECOND COPY. 

U*l'verw1 ro 

OfcDtW DIVISION, 

OCT 20 



Copyrighted by 

Crane & Company, Topeka, Kansas 

1900 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE BATTLE OF BLACK JACK. 



Thankless, too, for peace, 
Secure from actual warfare, we have loved 
To swell the warwhoop, passionate for war! 
Alas! for ages ignorant of all 
Its ghastlier workings, (famine or blue plague, 
Battle, or siege, or flight through wintry snows, ) 
We, this whole people, have been clamorous 
For war and bloodshed. — Coleridge. 

John Brown and the company who were with him on the 
Pottawatomie returned with the " Pottawatomie Rifles" 
after they had disbanded in the camp at the house of 
Ottawa Jones. The eight men remained together, and at 
the crossing of Middle creek they separated from the main 
body of returning soldiers and went to the cabin of John 
Brown, jr., which was deserted and solitary, the family 
having been driven away by the Doyles and others. They 
remained here one night, and with guard set; the follow- 
ing night they went to the cabin of Jason Brown, which 
was also deserted and lonely. Here they remained a few 
days, and maintained a guard all the time; and were 
joined by August Bondi and another, believed by Towns- 
ley to have been Benjamin L. Cochran. They were ready 
to go to the assistance of any Free-State family or com- 
munity. They were poorly armed ; Captain Brown had a 
sword and a heavy revolver. His sons were armed with 

(157) 



158 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

revolvers, the heavy swords that had done such fearful ex- 
ecution on the Pottawatomie, and old obsolete rifles of 
small bore. Townsley bore an old musket, Werner a 
"double-barreled" gun, and Bondi an old-fashioned flint- 
lock musket. 

John Brown, jr., and Jason Brown went to the residence 
of their uncle, the Rev. S. L. Adair, where they found their 
families, on their return from the expedition to aid Law- 
rence. But as they did not want to subject Mr. Adair to 
danger on their account, they determined to go to some 
camp of United States troops and surrender themselves. 
This conclusion was reached after they were informed 
that a posse was seeking them with warrants for con- 
spiracy against the bogus laws or for treason. There was 
a command of United States troops at the house of Ottawa 
Jones, and Jason set out to reach it and deliver himself 
up. He was on foot, and in crossing the prairies he met 
a company of Pro-Slavery men under command of Rev. 
Martin White ; here he expected to be killed. He marched 
backward in the road for some distance, all the time with 
his bosom bared and avowing that he was an abolitionist. 
The ruffians were slowly advancing upon him, and finally 
told him that he would not then be killed. He was carried 
to Paola, where Judge Cato had been located for some time, 
intending to hold a term of court. The charge against him 
was conspiracy, and he narrowly escaped lynching. He 
was imprisoned and well guarded, but as the town was full 
of Buford's men and Pro-Slavery Missourians, he expected 
to be killed, and had been driven by their brutality to the 
verge of despair, and cared little whether he was murdered 
or not. John Brown, jr., was taken by Captain Pate and 



JOHN BROWN 



159 



the United States Marshal, at the house of his uncle, on the 
28th of May, and was also taken to Paola. 

John Brown, hearing that his sons were captured and in 
Paola, sent his relative, Horace Day, a mere boy, with a 
note to the people of Paola, which said simply that he was 
aware that two of his sons were held there as prisoners. 
This brief note threw the town into consternation. Mid- 
night alarms were frequent thereafter, and the prisoners 
were shifted about from place to place in order that they 
might not be rescued ; and in these uneasy and troubled 
perambulations the prisoners were left sometimes to care 
for themselves while the invincible guards betook them- 
selves to the brush until the danger from ''Old Brown" 
was past. There were times, too, when the ruffians crowded 
about with uplifted knives to slay them. John Brown, jr., 
had been spending the nights in the woods, deeply anxious 
for the safety of his family. His uncle says he was suffer- 
ing from a temporary insanity while at his house. When 
it was determined to remove the prisoners to Lecompton, 
Captain Walker bound the arms of John Brown, jr., so 
tightly that he was in great pain ; he was made to trot be- 
fore the horses in the hot sun for nine miles. The bonds 
were not removed for twenty-seven hours ; all circulation 
of the blood was stopped and his arms were fearfully swol- 
len ; when the chains were taken off the skin clung to them, 
and the marks so made remained with him to the grave. 
He was a maniac for some days ; he was seized with a 
dangerous illness and his life was despaired of for a time, 
but he finally recovered. 

The settlers of Prairie City were threatened by the 
ruffians in that vicinity. They sent O. A. Carpenter to 



160 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

search out John Brown and request him to come to their 
protection; and such a message was never sent to John 
Brown in vain. He agreed to go, and at dusk set out for 
the troubled district, which he reached on the morning of 
May 27th ; he went into camp in a deep wood, where he 
could be reached with great difficulty by an enemy and with 
considerable trouble by his friends. He devoted his time 
to searching for the marauders, but they were wary and not 
easily found. A large camp of Buford's men were sta- 
tioned at the house of one La Hay, on the Wakarusa, and 
spent their time between their camp and the house of 
Colonel Titus and a Mr. Clark; they were preying upon 
the Free-State settlers, and it was evident that they would 
join any band of Missourians who might invade the settle- 
ment. The settlers kept a close watch upon these precious 
rogues, and more than once came into collision with them 
as they were prowling about for plunder and bent on mur- 
der in the interest of slavery. 

H. Clay Pate was a Virginian. He seems to have been 
a man of some education ; he was a graduate of some col- 
lege, and, like many wiser men, supposed that the world 
was breathlessly waiting for his graduation in expectation 
that he would at once give it a thorough overhauling, and 
remedy all its ills, and especially the ills that slavery was 
falling into from the scoundrels in the North who called 
themselves abolitionists. In his peregrinations toward the 
setting sun he stopped a season in Cincinnati. Here he 
published a book of reminiscences, which the world treated 
with much indifference ; he also entered journalism, where 
he had some pecuniary success. But as slavery cried out 
for champions beyond Missouri he chafed under restraint, 



JOHN BROWN 



161 



and finally breaking- through hindrances and subordinate 
alliances he continued his perambulations, and halted on 
the border of Kansas Territory. He seized upon West- 
port, and there devoted himself to journalism and war. 
He raised a company of ruffians, almost all Missourians, and 
had himself elected Captain. This company was mustered 
in as "Shannon's Sharp-Shooters." As they were poor 
marksmen, it is supposed that the word "sharp" in their 
official designation was meant to indicate that they were 
"men of intelligence who could shoot," or that it might in- 
dicate that "they could shoot men of intelligence" ; but on 
this point there is much doubt, and we are left altogether 
to the resources of conjecture.* This company was made 
a part of the Kansas militia, under some authority of the 
bogus laws. Pate had it at the sacking of Lawrence, 
where he distinguished himself by riding rapidly about 
upon a horse decked in trappings such as might delight an 
Indian warrior ; there were ribbons attached to mane 
and tail, and the wind carried them out as gay streamers. 
He was jealous of the unsavory reputation of the Kickapoo 
Hangers, and strove to do some service to the cause dear 
to the ruffian heart which would place him upon the same 
footing enjoyed by that band of cut-throats. After the 
town of Lawrence was sacked he tarried in the Territory, 
and was in no hurry to return to Missouri. His head- 
quarters were at Lecompton, but he remained here but a 
short time. Phillips says he burned the house and store of 
Weiner, in the Pottawatomie settlements. If this be true 
he must have gone directly from Lawrence to the vicinity 
of Dutch Henry's Crossing. Sanborn says that he re- 

*TMs is General Jo. 0, Shelby's characterization of this band. 
—11 



162 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



mained at Lecompton until the 25th, when, hearing of the 
killing of the Doyles and others, he resolved to capture 
John Brown. The fact that the Lecompton Union an- 
nounced his departure, but made no reference to his desire 
to capture Brown, but gave as his mission that explanation 
furnished by his lieutenant, one Brockett, "We are going- 
down to the southern part of the Territory expecting to see 
rattlesnakes and abolitionists, and shall take our guns 
along/' makes it probable that Pate departed before the 
25th, and before the raid on the Pottawatomie by John 
Brown. He pretended to be a deputy United States Mar- 
shal, and may have been one in fact. He was at Paola 
when the sons of John Brown arrived as prisoners, and in- 
deed captured John Brown, jr., at the house of Mr. Adair. 
He took to the prairies, declaring that he would capture 
Old John Brown, and the robberies he committed upon 
Free-State men in this mission caused the men of the 
Prairie City region to seek the aid of Brown. 

Pate and his company left the United States troops on 
Middle Ottawa creek on Saturday, the 31st day of May, 
and marched to the Santa Fe road, near Hickory Point, 
in Douglas county. That night be camped on the prairie 
near the ravines which formed a small stream called 
Black Jack, from the abundance of scrub-oak of that 
name which grew about it. He was much discouraged 
that he had not found John Brown, and began to fear 
that he might not be able to find him at all. But not to 
entirely fail in their objects, they went, as soon as it was 
dark, to Palmyra, which town they attacked and plun- 
dered. They took some Free-State men prisoners, and one 
of these being a preacher, he was outrageously treated. 



JOHN BROWN 



A funnel was placed in his mouth and through it a boun- 
tiful supply of ruffian whisky was poured down his throat. 
The predatory expedition to Palmyra on Saturday night 
was not satisfactory, and it was renewed on Sunday morn- 
ing. They brought a wagon, which they tilled with the 
goods of the village storekeeper, after destroying much 
that they could not carry away. This only whetted their 
appetites. In the afternoon they expressed their intention 
to go to the little town of Prairie City and pillage it. 
It is said that Pate tried to dissuade them, but was un- 
successful; six of them rode away to accomplish this ob- 
ject. The people had gathered to hear the Gospel 
preached, among them some twenty men; and in true 
Western-frontier fashion, they had carried with them 
their guns, for the minister had been captured the pre- 
vious night and released. They mistrusted that it might 
devolve upon them to do battle against the visible as well 
as the invisible powers of darkness and allies of the devil, 
and their guns were always in ready reach. Services were 
almost closed when the guard rushed in and cried: 
"The Missourians — the Missourians are coming!" 
The congregation immediately dispersed and surrounded 
the four ruffians who came in first ; the two who were fol- 
lowing at a little distance in the rear, seeing how the 
matter was likely to turn out, wheeled their horses and gal- 
loped away and escaped, though they were fired at. 

As soon as Captain Shore was informed of the presence 
of the enemy he began to collect his men. Captain Brown 
was notified that the invaders were in the vicinity in force; 
he and Captain Shore spent Sunday looking for their 
camp, which was concealed in the clumps of bushes grow- 



164 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

ing in the ravines. They returned to Prairie City at day- 
light on Monday morning, and there met two scouts who 
had just returned from the head of Black Jack, and who 
gave them information which enabled them to find Pate's 
camp. Captain Shore had collected nineteen of his com- 
pany, and Captain Brown had nine men. The Free- 
State forces numbered thirty men. Captains Shore and 
Brown led these forces against the camp of Pate. It was 
well chosen for defense, and had a breastwork of wagons 
in front; in the rear it was protected by a deep ravine in 
which grew timber, and beyond this was a quagmire filled 
with high grass and swamp-bushes. Captain Brown led 
his men up to the head of the ravine, and directed Cap- 
tain Shore to get into the lower part of the ravine where 
his men would have protection, and from which both 
parties could fire at Pate while they were out of range 
of the guns of each other. Captain Brown gained his 
position, but Captain Shore was not so successful. Being 
challenged by Pate, he formed his men on the prairie and 
delivered a volley, which was returned at once by the 
Missourians. The fight continued some ten minutes, when 
Pate retreated from his breastwork of wagons to the ra- 
vine. He was here protected from the fire of Captain 
Shore, whose position became untenable. His men re- 
treated some distance up the hill, where they were out of 
range. Captain Shore then went to the line of Brown, 
where he remained through much of the action, and some 
of his men went with him. Brown's position was a good 
one, and several of the Missourians were wounded. Am- 
munition was low in the Free-State ranks, and some men 
were sent away to secure more. Runners were sent, among 



JOHN BttOWN 



165 



them Captain Shore, to Captain J. B. Abbott, to request 
him to bring his men and help in the work of defeating 
Pate. 

After the firing had continued about throe hours, Cap- 
tain Brown directed some of his men to shoot at the horses 
belonging to Pate's forces. He went to Shore's men and 
had them do the same. The Missourians began to slip 
down the ravine until they were out of range, and then 
make a dash for their horses ; they would mount, one by 
one, and gallop away. Frederick Brown mounted his 
horse and galloped around the camp, shouting to imagi- 
nary reinforcements to hurry up. Captain Pate saw no 
hope of being able to escape, and sent out a flag of truce. 
Captain Brown inquired of the bearer if he was the 
Captain of the company, and when assured that he was 
not, ordered a Mr. Lymer, a Free-State prisoner who had 
been sent with the flag of truce, to return and call the 
commander. 

It is said that a Mr. James carried the flag of truce; 
and some claim that it was Lieutenant Brockett. Whoever 
the man, he remained with Captain Brown while Mr. 
Lymer returned for Captain Pate, who, now that his 
flag of truce served no better purpose than to summon him 
to face a grim and relentless foe in conference, reluctantly 
and with misgivings as to the result, came forth. Upon 
being asked whether he had a proposition to make, he hesi- 
tated, and said he believed he had not. Captain Brown 
cut into his explanation that he was a Deputy United 
States Marshal, and said he wanted to hear no more about 
that. " I know exactly what you are, sir. I have a propo- 
sition to make to you— that is, your unconditional sur- 
render." 



106 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

As Captain Brown held a large revolver in close prox- 
imity to Pate's head, there was little to be expected from 
duplicity. Brown ordered his men to go to the mouth 
of the ravine to prevent the escape of the Missourians, 
while he went to their camp with their Captain. Brockett 
objected to surrender, and talked defiantly, but Brown 
demanded of Pate that he order Brockett and his men to 
lay down their arms and surrender, and as the large re- 
volver was thrust a little nearer, Pate ordered them to 
comply. This they did. Twenty-two Pro-Slavery men 
surrendered to nine Free-State men. The losses of Cap- 
tain Pate were as follows: twenty-one surrendered; 
wounded and escaped, twenty-seven. Perhaps others es- 
caped before the battle closed ; all the wounded except two 
escaped. The Free-State men captured a large quantity 
of arms and ammunition, and recovered much property 
the marauders had stolen from the settlers; some of the 
plunder taken from Lawrence when it was sacked was 
recovered. The four wagons were fairly well loaded with 
provisions. In his account of the battle, written for the 
Missouri Republican, Pate said : " I was taken prisoner 
under a flag of truce. I had no alternative but to submit 
or to run and be shot. I went to take old Brown and old 
Brown took me." 

The arms of the Missourians were taken from them, and 
they were inarched to John Brown's camp. Just as the 
file of captives were starting under guard, Captain iibbott 
came up with reinforcements, some fifty men. So Cap- 
tain Pate could not have escaped had he even known that 
John Brown and his men had remaining but one round 
of ammunition when the demand for the surrender was 



JOHN BROWN 1"' 

made. Pate and bis command were marched to Brown's 
camp on Middle Ottawa creek, where they were kept as 
prisoners. An agreement was here made between Captains 
Brown and Shore and Pate and Broekett that prisoners 
should be exchanged. John Brown, jr., and Jason Brown, 
who were jet in the camp of the United States dragoons 
near the house of Ottawa Jones, were to be given up for 
the release of Pate and Broekett; and other prisoners 
were to be exchanged on equal terms. 

In the Territorial days of Kansas it was always the duty 
of the Governor to aid the ruffian forces in every conceiv- 
able way, and this duty was generally cheerfully per- 
formed. No sooner had Governor Shannon been informed 
that Pate had not only failed to capture John Brown but 
had been himself captured, than he issued a proclamation 
ordering all armed bands to disperse and retire to their 
homes. Colonel Sumner was directed to go to the vicinity 
of the late battle and release the " Shannon Sharp- 
Shooters" from the iron grip of Old John Brown. It was 
well known that had Pate been successful in his enter- 
prise, no proclamation would have been issued. This proc- 
lamation was not issued until after the Pro-Slavery men 
had been attacked at Franklin, on the night of June 4th, 
although it was dated the same day. Colonel Sumner was 
ordered to defend Franklin and the house of a Pro-Slavery 
man who sheltered a company of Buford's men. But the 
attack frightened the ruffians and Franklin was not contin- 
ued as one of their bases, and not so used for some time. 

When the news of the capture of Pate reached Missouri, 
Whitfield left Westport in haste, on the evening of the 2d 
of June, to succor and relieve that worthy. He had three 



168 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

companies of Missourians under him, each numbering 
seventy men, all well equipped and armed. He was ac- 
companied by "General" Reid, who was a candidate for 
Congress in some Missouri district. They went into camp 
on Bull creek, some twelve miles east of Palmyra. Other 
Pro-Slavery parties gathered, and some of them camped 
on the same field made gory by the heroism of Captain 
Pate ! On the 5th of June Colonel Sumner went to John 
Brown's camp and released Pate and his men, and restored 
to them their arms and horses. He prevailed upon Cap- 
tain Brown and Captain Shore to disband their forces; 
this he accomplished by assuring them that the forces 
under Whitfield and Reid should return to Missouri at 
once. This they agreed to do, and a part of their force did 
so return; but by far the larger portion of the men had 
not had any opportunity to steal from Free-State men, and 
as plunder was always one of the strong inducements for 
the invasion of Kansas, these men could not be so easily 
turned back. They had murdered only one Free-State 
man, and this was another reason why they could not be 
induced to return ; some town must be pillaged and more 
than one "abolitionist" killed before they would feel war- 
ranted in returning from an expedition of which so much 
was expected. Pate agreed to return to Missouri, but 
tailed to do so ; and it is said that he and his men partici- 
pated in the trial of Jacob Cantrel for "treason to Mis- 
souri," of which he was convicted and for which he was 
shot. In all the orders to the Free-State men to disperse, 
the United States troops warned them that they must 
obey the bogus laws or leave the Territory. Indeed, this 
was the cause of the invasions ; resistance to the bogus 



JOHN BROWN 



169 



laws was the foundation upon which all the outrages com- 
mitted upon the Free-State men by the Pro-Slavery Mis- 
sourians in the summer of 1856 were built. 

On the 6th of June Whitfield set out on his return to 
Missouri, but not until he had seen Pate, Reid, Jenigan 
and Bell start to Osawatomie with one hundred and sev- 
enty men. The Free-State forces having been disbanded, 
there could be no effective resistance at Osawatomie. The 
ruffians were led to the town by a spy who had been sent 
in the day before, and who pretended to be sick and had 
received good treatment. They pillaged dwellings and 
business houses alike. Trunks, drawers, boxes, desks and 
wardrobes were broken and ransacked. Rings were torn 
from the fingers of the women, as well as from their ears ; 
clothing and even furniture were loaded on their horses to 
be carried away to Missouri. Whisky was seized and swal- 
lowed while the crusaders for slavery raged and threatened. 
Some of them tore the clothing from women and children, 
and an eminent writer of that time says that "they ought 
to have had a petticoat apiece as trophies." I close this 
chapter with a quotation from this writer: 

" Having got all the plunder they wanted, they were 
anxious to be off. 

" ' Hurry, hurry !' they said to each other. ' These d — d 
abolitionists are somewhere not far off, and will be down 
on us the first thing we know.' They accordingly re- 
treated from the ill-fated town as rapidly and unmolested 
as they had entered it, carrying their booty with them. 

" When they got to their camp the company divided. 
Half of them started immediately back for Westport, and 
the remainder moved off and camped on the lower part 
of Bull creek, some eight miles from Osawatomie. There 
they had an adventure. 



170 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



"As might be expected, they kept a sharp lookout for 
abolitionists. Two days after sacking the city of Osawato- 
mie, a couple of their own number had been on a scout, 
and on their return to camp, while near it, fired off their 
guns. The guard in that direction gave the alarm, tired 
his gun in the direction of the two men, and cried at the 
top of his lungs, ' The abolitionists are coming ! — the 
abolitionists are coming!' Whereupon the whole camp 
got into a panic, and, without taking time to pack up 
their effects, started off at the run. There were some horses 
harnessed to wagons ; these were hurriedly taken out, and 
off the whole party went in a helter-skelter race, outrival- 
ing John Gilpin's. Once or twice one of their number 
would discharge a pistol or a gun behind him, as a warning 
to abolitionists to keep off, which had the effect of keeping 
up the fear of the retreating party. 

" They never stopped till they got to Battiesville 
[Paola], an Indian station among the Weas. The Indian 
storekeeper, seeing a band of wild-looking fellows gallop- 
ing up, with arms in their hands, and looking very terrible 
from fear and excitement, closed his door, and, in spite of 
all their entreaties, would not let them in. 

" ' The abolitionists are coming! — we want to come in 
snd defend the place ! ' 

" The Indian happened to be a Pro-Slavery Indian, 
but he was moderately suspicious of the appearance of 
these ' law and order' men ; so he grunted, 

" 'Abolitionists, heap bad ! — no come ! ' 

" ' Yes, they are coming ! ' yelled a score of anxious 
voices. 'G — d blast ye ! let us in ! They'll be here in a 
minute ! ' 

" 'Come in to-morrow, maybe,' was the cautious answer. 

" Time was pressing. There were two or three unoccu- 
pied log houses close at hand; so they made a virtue of 
necessity and got into them. The chinking was driven 
out for portholes, and the doors barricaded; meanwhile 
two of the best-mounted were dispatched in hot haste to 



JOHN BROWN I'l 

Missouri, — one to Jackson, and the other to Cass county, — 
telling their friends to come up quick, for the abolitionists 
with great force were besieging them in Battiesville, and 
that they would endeavor to hold out till they could come. 
"A party of men did start to the rescue, and more would 
have gone if these had not returned and reported it a hoax. 
This masterly retreat was a standing joke amongst the 
border ruffians in that quarter, who taunted their com- 
rades about their ' holding out against the abolition- 
ists.' " 



CHAPTER IX. 

WOODSON'S WAR OF EXTERMINATION— 1856. 



Bethink thee, Gordon, 

Our death-feud was not like the household fire, 

Which the poor peasant hides among its embers, 

To smoulder on, and wait a time for waking. 

Ours was the conflagration of the forest, 

Which, in its fury, spares nor sprout nor stem, 

Hoar oak, nor sapling—not to be extinguished, 

Till Heaven, in mercy, sends down all her waters; 

But, once subdued, its flame is quench'd forever; 

And spring shall hide the track of devastation, 

With foliage and with flowers. 

—Sir Walter Scott. 

Some of the emigrant aid societies were founded upon 
the old colonization principle, that money should be made 
in the settlement of a new countiy. This was not the only 
object of those corporations, but was one of the paramount 
considerations. jSTot a few New England people refused 
to come to Kansas under their auspices when the plans 
to obtain town lots and other property were made known; 
they chose rather to endure greater sacrifices, and carry 
to Kansas the true spirit of liberty, which required no hope 
of pecuniary reward, but was moved by right conscience. 
These people came to fight for the liberties they enjoyed 
at home; with them property interests were subordinated. 
If Kansas could not be a free State, property in her bounds 
would be to them of little value, for they could not re- 

(172) 



JOHN BROWN 1'3 

main to foster and to care for it. These people believed in 
defending their lives with weapons; they supposed that 
all law sanctioned defense of wives and babes when the 
blood-stained fangs of wolfish barbarians gnashed at the 
doors of their dwellings. They were not moved to compro- 
mises and subterfuges in the interest of property. They 
expected no dividends except those paid by an approving 
conscience; they believed that when Kansas was once 
free, with slavery blotted from the books of all America, 
industrial and intellectual development such as the world 
had not before witnessed would follow. They did not 
want Kansas a free State with the South, or even what 
is now Colorado and all the West and Northwest, slave 
States. They believed that Kansas was the field on which 
the question of slavery should be settled — settled finally 
and forever. And they were right.* 

The battle of Black Jack, while insignificant in itself, 
was important in this respect, — it was the first field in 
the Kansas struggle where the free men cast aside the tram- 
mels of property interests and marched out to make war 
upon any and all who came to fight for the establishment 
or maintenance of the institution of slavery. Men have 
only been great as they placed all upon the altar and staked 

* "Mr. Thayer's plan was an epitome of Yankee characteristics — thrift, and devo- 
tion to principle. He did not propose to win Kansas with hirelings, but to show the 
natural aggressiveness of the Yankee an outlet for his energy at once honorable and 
profitable. And thus, also, the company he proposed was not to be a charitable labor 
entirely, as religious missionary societies mostly are; but he asked. Why is it worse 
for a company to make money by extending Christianity, or suppressing slavery, than 
by making cotton cloth ? The company which he plannpd was intended to be an in- 
vestment company, giving and taking advantages with those whom it induced to go to 
Kansas, anrf incidentally crippling slavery. . . . While the Aid Company must be 
credited for something of the high tone of the New England emigrants, it is a common 
error to suppose that these emigrants came to Kansas expecting to win martyrs' 
crowns. I have questioned many of them as to their motives, and the uniform answer 
has been : 'We went to Kansas to better our condition, incidentally expecting to make, 
it a free State. We knew we took some risks ; but if we had foreseen the struggles and 
hardships we actually underwent, we never should have gone.' "—William H. Carruth" 1 * 
"TTie New England Emigrant Aid Company as an Investment Society," in The Kansas 
Historical Cull, ction, Vol. VI, p. 90. 



174 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

their very lives in the hazard. If anything at all is re- 
served, it is as fatal to noble purpose as was the hiding of a 
portion to Ananias and Sapphira. Peoples have been 
great only as they had a strong faith in God and were 
actuated by a deep and single motive to live and act up 
to the highest conceptions of His law. All history teaches 
this — in fact, it teaches only this. " In this God's-world, 
with its wild-whirling eddies and mad foam-oceans, where 
men and nations perish as if without law, and judgment 
for an unjust thing is sternly delayed, dost thou think 
there is therefore no justice? It is what the fool hath 
said in his heart. It is what the wise, in all times, were 
wise because they denied, and knew forever not to be. 
I tell thee again, there is nothing else but justice. One 
strong thing I find here below: the just thing, the true 
thing. My friend, if thou hadst all the artillery of Wool- 
wich trundling at thy back in support of an unjust thing; 
and infinite bonfires visibly waiting ahead of thee, to 
blaze centuries long for thy victory on behalf of it, — I 
would advise thee to call halt, and fling down thy baton, 
and say, ' In God's name, No!' Thy 'success'? Poor 
devil, what will thy success amount to? If the thing- 
is unjust, thou hast not succeeded ; no, not though 
bonfires blazed from North to South, and bells rang, 
and editors wrote leading articles, and the just thing 
lay trampled out. of sight, to all mortal eyes an 
abolished and annihilated thing. Success? In a few- 
years thou wilt be dead and dark, — all cold, eyeless, 
deaf; no blaze of bonfires, ding-dong of bells or leading 
articles visible or audible to thee again at all forever: 
What kind of success is that ! — It is true, all goes by 



JOHN BROWN 



175 



approximation in this world ; with any not insupportable 
approximation we must be patient. There is a noble Con- 
servatism as well as an ignoble. Would to Heaven, for 
the sake of ( lonservatism itself, the noble alone were left, 
and the ignoble, by some kind severe hand, were ruthlessly 
lopped away, forbidden evermore to show itself! For it 
is the right and noble alone that will have victory in this 
struggle; the rest is wholly an obstruction, a postponement 
and fearful impediment of the victory. Towards an 
eternal centre of right and nobleness, and of that only, is 
all this confusion tending. We already know whither 
it is all tending; what will have the victory, and what 
will have none! The Heaviest will reach the center. The 
Heaviest, sinking through complex fluctuating media and 
vortices, has its deflections, its obstructions, nay, at times 
its resiliences, its rebound ings ; whereupon some block- 
head shall be heard jubilating, ' See, your Heaviest as- 
cends !' — but at all moments it is moving centreward, 
fast, as is convenient for it; sinking, sinking; and, by 
laws older than the World, old as the ^laker's first Plan of 
the World, it has to arrive there. The dust of controversy, 
what is it but the falsehood flying off from all manner of 
conflicting true forces, and making such a loud dust-whirl- 
wind, — that so the truths alone may remain, and embrace 
brother-like in some true resulting force ! It is ever so. 
Savage fighting Heptarchies: their fighting is an ascer- 
tainment, who has the right to rule over whom; that out 
of such waste-bickering Saxondom a peaceful cooperating 
England may arise. Seek through this Universe ; if with 
other than owl's eyes, thou wilt find nothing nourished 
there, nothing kept in life, but what has right to nourish- 



176 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

ment and life. The rest, look at it with other than owl's 
eyes, is not living; is all dying, all as good as dead! 
Justice was ordained from the foundations of the world; 
and will last with the world and longer." 

With these old Puritanical doctrines was John Brown 
deeply imbued, — not from Creed-books and Faith-confes- 
sions, but from an absorbing contemplation of righteous- 
ness and the principles of liberty. Great men are the 
result of evolution. First principles of justice and human- 
ity lay hold upon them ; they demand that some great 
reform be consummated — be accomplished; for in the 
progress of the world, evil institutions grow to such pro- 
portions as to seriously menace the good. These men 
are allowed to see but one great underlying principle; 
and the strange thing in this world is, that this great 
right-principle has had to be consecrated anew and dyed 
in the blood of those who proclaimed it before it was visi- 
ble to mankind. John Brown was aware of that; it 
nerved his arm and strengthened his heart when making 
what seemed so hopeless and uneven a battle in the scrub- 
bush in the ravines of Black Jack. The United States 
troops might wrest from him the fruits of his victory, and, 
while retaining under the bogus laws the prisoners they 
had, release, arm and set on the path to pillage and arson 
those so lately taken from it by him, but there remained 
the example of resistance to cut-throats; and this example 
was not lost on the free men of Kansas. It marked a 
now era in the struggle for freedom. Kansas men saw 
that those who fought for their rights and the lives of 
wives and children were held in more respect and were 
accorded more protection than those who preached non- 



JOHN BROWN 



177 



resistance in the interest of property preservation. These 
men had the example of Pomeroy and others, who surren- 
dered Lawrence without even a show of resistance, hoping 
to save the city in a fawning sycophancy and a hypocritical 
pretension that they would in future not fail to render 
allegiance to the bogus laws. These Free-State men, who 
had now resolved to fight for their lives and for their wives 
and children, remembered that all the humility of leaders 
did not save the good people of Lawrence from outrage 
and their fair city from pillage. Free-State men have told 
me with what scorn and contempt Pomeroy and others 
were regarded in New England when the people heard 
that instead of using a cannon donated by them for the 
defense of Lawrence, they had handed it over to the en- 
emy to be used in battering down Free-State institutions ! 
They have also described to me how the same people 
pointed with pride to the first defense of Lawrence, when 
Robinson, Lane and Brown stationed their men like a wall 
to turn back the ruffians; and how they deplored the ab- 
sence of these heroes when the hordes again compassed it, 
bent on its destruction. This first resistance openly made 
in Kansas to the minions of the slave-power and the cur- 
rent issue that the bogus laws must be obeyed, strengthened 
John Brown and encouraged him to still fight and hope. 
It also aroused the Missourians, for it revealed a new phase 
in the conflict. Whitfield, summoned by Long, the courier 
sent by Pate, hastened to the field. He was turned out 
of the Territory by the mild remonstrances of the United 
States military, but sent his men to destroy and plunder 
Osawatomie before he departed. 

Lane had been sent East by the leaders of the Free-State 
—12 



178 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



men. lie was in Washington for some time in the interest 
of the Topeka Constitution. That instrument was pre- 
sented to the United States Senate by Mr. Cass, on the 
24th of March. Lane traveled extensively over the East- 
ern States, speaking to the people and describing the true 
conditions in Kansas. In this work he arrived in Chicago 
on the 31st of May, 185G ; his speech here was one of the 
greatest ever delivered in behalf of Kansas, and was fol- 
lowed by a remarkable demonstration in favor of the pa- 
triots who were struggling for freedom. In all his ad- 
dresses Lane urged people to go to Kansas, and largely to 
his efforts was due the remarkable immigration that poured 
into the Territory in the summer and fall of that year. 
Many of these were known as " Lane's Army of the 
North," and in the succeeding years did valiant service 
in the cause of liberty. 

Governor Robinson had been ordered East also, but 
being delayed by affairs demanding his attention in the 
interest of the Free-State people, he could not leave the 
Territory before the closing of the Missouri river to the 
people opposed to slavery. He was arrested by ruffians 
and returned to Kansas, and her people lost his valuable 
services for some four months while he was closely guarded 
and held prisoner under a charge of high treason. 

John Brown remained in the vicinity of Osawatomie. 
He was at Topeka when the Free-State Legislature was 
dispersed, and no doubt he believed that the United States 
troops should be resisted when they interfered with mat- 
ters which did not concern their true functions. And it 
is probable that he would have made such resistance at 
Topeka if he had but been in command of a sufficient 



179 

JOHN BROWN xt0 



force. He returned to the Pottawatomie and raised a com- 
pany of Free-State men for the defense of the settlers and 
for striking a blow at slavery if occasion favored. The 
-Articles of Enlistment and By-Laws" of this company 
are preserved, and reveal to us the spirit in which all 
of John Brown's warfare against slavery was made: 

" Kansas Territory, A. D. 1856. 
" 1. The Covenant. 
" We whose names are found on these and the next 
following pages do hereby enlist ourselves to serve m the 
Tree-State cause under John Brown as Commander; 
during the full period of time affixed to our names re- 
spectively, and we 'severally pledge our word and sacred 
Lonor to' said Commander; and to each other, that during 
the time for which we have enlisted we will faithfully 
and punctually perform our duty (in such capacity or 
place as may be assigned to us by a majority of all the 
votes of those associated with us: or of the companies to 
which we may belong as the case may be) as a regular 
volunteer force for the maintenance of the rights & liber- 
ties of the Tree-State citizens of Kansas: and we further 
agree; that as individuals we will conform to the by Laws 
of this Organization & that we will insist on their regular 
& punctual enforcement as a first & last, duty: and in 
short that we will observe & maintain a strict & thorough 
Military discipline at all times until our term of service 
expires." 

To this Covenant are subscribed the names of thirty- 
five men with the dates of their enlistment; these dates 
extend from August 22 to September 16. Among these 
men were many that were leading citizens of the State 
for a quarter of a century after its admission. Many of 
the by-laws are quaint and odd, but they show that moral- 
ity was considered a part of "thorough Military disci- 



180 



TWENTIETH CENT UK Y CLASSICS 



pline." And the company was a democracy; its internal 
affairs were regulated and determined by vote, and offend- 
ers were to have trial "by a jury of Twelve." Article 
XIV provided that, "All uncivil, ungentlemanly, profane, 
vulgar talk or conversation shall be discountenanced." 
It is followed by another declaring that, "All acts of petty 
theft needless waste of property of the members or of 
Citizens is hereby declared disorderly: together with all 
uncivil, or unkind treatment of Citizens or of prisoners." 
Humane treatment of prisoners was made obligatory: 
" No person after having first surrendered himself a pris- 
oner shall be put to death: or subjected to corporeal pun- 
ishment, without first having had the benefit of an impar- 
tial trial." The use of liquor was prohibited : " The ordi- 
nary use or introduction into camp of any intoxicating 
liquor, as a beverage: is hereby declared disorderly." 

The organization of this company was after his return 
from Nebraska with Lane's Army of the North. Soon 
after the Legislature was dispersed, Brown took his son- 
in-law, Thompson, who was wounded at Black Jack, to 
Iowa to remain with friends there until he recovered. All 
Kansas waited for the coming of Lane's Army ; the people 
saw their hope of deliverance in the patriotic army moving 
slowly through Iowa to pass into Kansas to fight for free- 
dom. Brown was anxious to welcome this host of liberty- 
loving people. We shall get a view of him as he passed 
along. 

Among the good men in Kansas in those days was 
Samuel J. Reader. He lived then near Indianola, in 
Shawnee county, a town which disappeared long since. 
Mr. Reader still resides near the old townsite, and is one of 



JOHN BROWN l** 1 



the most respected citizens of the State, a man of great 
intelligence, and proficient in stenography and drawing. 
He kept a journal through all the Territorial period, and 
this record is one of the most valuable within my knowl- 
edge. I have been accorded the privilege of examining 
it, and I make a few extracts from it: 

" Tuesday Morning, July 29th. — I had been sleeping 
in the stable loft, with a double-barreled shotgun at my 
side, guarding our team from- predatory lovers of horse- 
flesh. When I returned to the house in the morning, I 
was told that 'Kickapoo Stephens' had been there a few 
minutes before, to notify us that a party of Free-State 
men were at the house of Mr. Fouts, in Kansopolis— about 
two miles east, or northeast, of where we lived. The ob- 
ject of the party was to march north to the Nebraska line, 
with the expectation of meeting and escorting into K*sas 
a Free-State emigrant train, and guard it from possible 
molestation by the 'Kickapoo Hangers' — a most lawless 
and bloodthirsty band of border ruffians. It was also 
reported that Jim Lane was coming with the train; and 
that he had expressed the wish to have some of the genuine 
'Kansas boys' with him when he crossed the line, into our 
Territory. . . . There was but a single baggage 
wagon. A very tall young man seemed to have charge 
of it. Some of the boys were calling him 'Handsome 
Hunter.' But Hunter seemed to take it all in good part, 
and talked back to them, in a drawling, good-natured 
tone of voice. 'Captain Whipple' was a name I heard 
more frequently than any other. I was not long in finding 
out who was the owner of that cognomen. He was a 
large, burly man ; about six feet tall, good-sized head and 
face, short neck, deep-chested; arms and shoulders full 
and 'muscular; and would certainly pull down the scale 
at 200 pounds. His countenance was pleasant, but firm. 
He had a way of compressing his lips while speaking, 



182 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

that seemed a little peculiar. He wore no beard. Com- 
plexion clear and fresh; eyes dark gray, and not large; 
dark-brown hair ; large, straight nose, and correspondingly 
large jaw and chin. At first I thought him a trifle too fat; 
but when I afterwards saw him walk, I discovered thai 
what I had taken for adipose tissue was simply braw?i. He 
wore a gray cloth cap on his head, while a summer vest 
partly concealed his cotton shirt. About his waist was 
buckled a dress sword; and on his shoulder he carried — 
not a Sharps' rifle — but a double-barreled shotgun. This 
was Captain Whipple as I first saw him. 

" There was a small party of mounted men. One was 
our guide — Dr. Root. He was a large, fleshy man ; jolly, 
and affable. Another was Captain Sam Walker, of Law- 
rence. He seemed to have command of the mounted men. 
His face was stolid and determined — the very opposite of 
Dr. Root's. Capt. Mitchell rode with his party, although 
he commanded none of the infantry companies. 

" Camp on Pony Creek, K. T., Sunday, August 3d, 
1856. — When I stepped up the opposite bank, I came face 
to face with two men. They had a covered wagon, drawn 
by a single yoke of oxen. One was a young man, some- 
what above the ordinary height ; the other, quite old. Both 
were walking, and both were dusty, and travel-stained. The 
team was stopped, and the old man inquired of me : 'Do 
you belong to a Free-State party, in camp near by V I re- 
plied that I did. 'Where is your camp V I pointed in its 
direction, and told him how he could find it. I was about 
to continue on my way, when he detained me, by remark- 
ing: 'Your coming has caused a good deal of excitement 
among the Pro-Slavery men living on the road.' I said 
nothing, and he continued: 'They didn't mind talking 
with us about it, as we are surveyors.' He motioned with 
his hand toward the wagon. I looked, and noticed for the 
first time a surveyor's chain hanging partly over the front 
end-board of the wagon. Just behind was a compass and 



JOHN BROWN 183 



tripod, standing up, under the wagon cover. It struck me 
that he might possibly be Pro-Slavery himself, but for- 
tunately I gave no outward expression to the thought. He 
was talkative — almost garrulous. I answered his direct 
questions, but ventured to make no remarks myself. I had 
been cautioned, only a day or two before, to be very care- 
ful what I said to men living along our line of march. 
The ox team naturally led me to suppose that these men 
were settlers in the immediate neighborhood. 'Where do 
yen live V he asked. 'Indianola.' 'Oyes! I know. It is 
a hard place, and has got a very bad reputation. I have 
heard of it.' I ventured no reply. 'Have you ever been 
in a fight?' he next inquired. 'No.' 'Well,' he continued, 
'you may possibly see some fighting, soon.' I was silent, 
but all attention. 'If you ever do get in a battle, always 
remember to aim low. You will be apt to over-shoot at 
first.' I told him I would remember, and perhaps I 
smiled a little, for he added: 'Maybe you think me a 
little free in offering advice; but I am somewhat older 
than you, and that ought to be taken in account.' He said 
this gravely and pleasantly. The younger man, behind 
him, was looking at me, with a broad grin on his face. 
I was a little puzzled. The old man continued in pretty 
much the same strain, for some time longer; but I find 
it impossible to recollect it with any degree of accuracy. 
The young man had not a word to say, but seemed vastly 
amused at something. We separated. They forded the 
creek, and went in the direction of camp, while I con- 
tinued my hunt. I shot nothing, and soon returned. I 
met one of our boys, and told him I had seen an old man 
inquiring the way to camp. 'Yes,— and do you know who 
it was V I told him that I did not. 'Well,' he continued, 
■ 'that was old John Brown; we are to break camp, and 
move farther on.' My delight and astonishment were 
about equal. Even at that early date, John Brown was a 
very noted man, and was trusted and esteemed by all who 
held anti-slavery views. I felt it an honor and a pleasure 



184 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

to have seen and conversed with so prominent a leader. 
One thing, however, has always puzzled me: why should 
the old man have spent any of his time talking to a youth, 
and a perfect stranger ? It is possible, my being a resident 
of Indianola excited his interest, as he might have con- 
sidered an armed Free-State man from such a noted 'Pro- 
Slavery hole' an anomaly and a curiosity. But whatever 
his motive, I shall always remember this little episode 
with pride and pleasure. 

" Between three and four o'clock we formed in march- 
ing column, and started forward at a swinging pace. We 
were all well rested, and a little tired of staying in camp. 
We had been on the road perhaps an hour or more, when 
some one in front shouted, 'There he is !' Sure enough, 
it was Brown. Just ahead of us we saw the dingy old 
wagon-cover, and the two men, and the oxen, plodding 
slowly onward. Our step was increased to 'quick time' ; 
and as we passed the old man, on either side of the road, 
we rent the air with cheers. If John Brown ever de- 
lighted in the praises of men, his pleasure must have been 
gratified, as he walked along, enveloped in our shouting 
column. But I fear he looked upon such things as vain- 
glorious, for if he responded by word or act, I failed to 
see or hear it. In passing I looked at him closely. He 
was rather tall, and lean, with a tanned, weather-beaten 
aspect in general. He looked like a rough, hard-working 
old farmer; and I had known several such, who pretty 
closely resembled Brown in many respects. He appeared 
to be unarmed ; but very likely had shooting-irons inside 
the wagon. His face was shaven, and he wore a cotton 
shirt, partly covered by a vest. His hat was well worn, 
and his general appearance, dilapidated, dusty, and soiled. 
He turned from his ox team and glanced at our party from 
time to time as we were passing him. ISTo doubt it was a 
pleasing sight to him to see men in armed opposition to 
the Slave-Power. None of us were probably aware that 
John Brown's most ardent wish was for a sectional war 



JOHN BROWN 1^5 

between the North and the South — that slavery might 
die. We supposed his only aim — like our own — was to 
make Kansas a free State. We proposed to lop one limb 
only from the deadly 'Upas tree' — he would lay the ax 
at the root. 

" We made no pause in our march, and rapidly left 
John Brown and his outfit in our rear. At the top of 
the next ridge I glanced backward, and looked again at 
that homely, humble figure, following in our wake at a 
snail's pace. What man among us could then have pre- 
dicted that in a little more than three years he would 
shake this American republic from center to circumfer- 
ence ? 

" Nemaha Falls, N. T., Monday, August 4th, 1856.— 
I was loitering about camp, when I heard some one cry out, 
'Here comes Brown !' I ran to the road with the rest of 
the men, and saw a horseman coming from the south. It 
was he. Where he got his horse, I never learned. Very 
likely he had borrowed the animal from some Free-State 
settler in the neighborhood. Several of our men stepped 
out into the road, and hailed the old man. He stopped 
immediately, and seemed very willing to talk. I think 
our principal spokesman was Wilmarth. 'Do you find a 
great deal of surveying to do?' he inquired of Brown. 
'Yes, now and then I pick up a job,' replied the old man, 
with a perfectly grave face. We scanned him closely. 
His appearance was anything but military. He looked 
round-shouldered and awkward as he sat on his horse ; and 
his resemblance to an old farmer, that one can see almost 
any day, was more striking than ever. 'Do you survey 
for Government?' was the next question. 'No. I am not 
exactly in that line. My surveying is strictly for private 
parties.' I watched him closely as he said this. There 
was not the vestige of a smile, and the tone of his voice 
seemed to indicate 'the words of truth and soberness.' 
He could hardly have failed seeing our scarcely concealed 
merriment; but his own face was long as the moral law. 



186 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

Our spokesman was equally grave, and plied Brown with 
many and various questions, but utterly failed in getting 
the old man to admit his object in coining, or even his 
own identity. Judging from this conversation, my im- 
pression is that when he visited our camp the day before 
he had not openly announced himself as Old Osawatomie 
Brown, but had been recognized by some of our men who 
had seen him before. Brown waited patiently until the 
questioner was through, and then continued his journey 
north. Of course he knew that we were not ignorant of 
who he was ; but from policy or force of habit, chose to 
assume the appearance of a stranger. At the time, I 
supposed be was indulging in a bit. of dry humor. But 
after-events have proved that even at this time his gray 
head was teeming with revolutionary schemes, that would 
have fairly taken' our breath away had he divulged them 
to ns. 'The pear was not ripe.' 

" Nemaha, Nebraska Territory, Thursday, August 
7th, 1856. — It was a nice, warm morning, and we were 
astir at an early hour. We answered to roll-call, and 
were about ready to start, when Col. Dickey came over to 
us and read a paper of instructions from his superiors. 
There it was in black and white, that armed men should 
not escort the train when it crossed the line into Kansas. 
Some heated discussion followed. Dickey urged us to put 
our arms in the wagons, and as soon as we were across 
the line we could take them back again. Other men 
joined the Colonel, and expostulated with our obdurate 
commander. But it availed nothing. Captain Whipple 
was standing a few feet in front of our line, and not 
three paces from where I stood. A horseman rode up in 
front of him. I looked up. It was Old Osawatomie 
Brown. He addressed himself earnestly to Whipple. 

" ' Do as they wish. This train is to enter Kansas 
as a peaceable emigrant train. It will never do to have 
it escorted by armed men. As soon as we are across the 
line, there will be no objection to your retaking your 



JOHN BROWN 187 

arms. Let us all stay together. Your services may be 
needed.' 

" He said considerably more to the same effect. Capt. 
Whipple said but little in reply. He was striking the 
ground at his feet with the point of his sword, during 
most of the conversation. He looked obstinate, and sul- 
len — something like a big school-boy when taken to task 
by his teacher. 

" ' Perhaps,' added Brown, 'you don't know me ; you 
don't know who I am V 

" ' Yes, I do,' exclaimed Whipple ; ' I know who you 
are, well enough ; but all the same, we are not going to 
part with our arms. We came armed, and we're going 
back armed.' 

" I was somewhat surprised to learn by this conversation 
that Brown and Whipple were strangers to each other. 
Almost within reach of my arm, stood and spoke to one 
another for the first time these two self-sacrificing martyrs, 
whose futures were so tragically blended together,— John 
Brown, and Aaron Dwight Stevens. Both to battle 
bravely and hopelessly; both to be stricken down with 
seemingly mortal wounds, and both to perish on the Slave- 
holder's scaffold. Brown saw that further entreaty would 
be useless. He turned, and rode away. It was the last 
time I ever saw ' Old John Brown of Osawatomie.' ' 

Lane and Brown left the Army of the North and came 
in advance to make arrangements for the beginning of an 
aggressive campaign for the recovery of the ground lost 
in the campaign against Kansas Free-State men relent- 
lessly prosecuted by the " Law and Order" party in the 
Territory and Missouri since the early spring. Lane had 
not seen Kansas since March. He had made a brilliant 
campaign in the Northern and Eastern States in the in- 
terest of Kansas. He had largely contributed in this way 



188 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

to the assembling of the army which was marching into 
Kansas to seek for homes, and who were determined that 
these homes should be in a free State. The coming of 
Lane's army carried dismay to the Missourians. On the 
16th of August their leaders issued a call to arms which 
showed their anxiety and apprehension: 

" To the Public : It has been our duty to keep cor- 
rectly and fully advised of the movements of the Aboli- 
tionists. We know that since Lane commenced his march 
the Abolitionists in the Territory have been engaged in 
stealing horses to mount his men, and in organizing and 
preparing immediately on their arrival to carry out their 
avowed purpose of expelling or exterminating every pro- 
slavery settler. We have seen them daily become more 
daring as Lane's party advanced. We have endeavored to 
prepare our friends to the end, which was foreseen, and 
which we now have to announce — Lane's men have ar- 
rived ! — Civil war has begun ! " 

After the sacking of Osawatomie the Georgians near 
that town became bold, and their thieving and plundering 
became unbearable. A small force of Free-State men 
assembled and attacked them. Although in a fortified 
camp, and out-numbering their assailants, they were 
routed and fled to Fort Saunders, several miles south- 
west of Lawrence. Here Buford's Colonel Treadwell was 
in command, and it was one of the most dangerous and 
troublesome posts held by the ruffians. Major D. S. Hoyt, 
of Lawrence, desired to obtain information which would 
enable the Free-State men to make a successful attack 
upon this point. It was a dangerous undertaking, and he 
was urged to relinquish his design; but he was a brave 
man, and believed he could safely accomplish it. Some 



JOHN BROWN" 180 

accounts say he carried a flag of truce. John Armstrong, 
Esq., of Topeka, whose account of this affair I have fol- 
lowed, assures me that he stopped at the fort, pretending 
that he was going to attend to some business in the little 
town of Marion, four miles beyond. He believed that no 
one would recognize him, and went into the fort and asked 
for a drink of water. After looking the fort over thor- 
oughly he departed. There was a man there who had 
worked on the ferry at Lawrence; he recognized Hoyt at 
once, and when he was gone he gave it as his opinion that 
he was a spy and should be shot. Two men were detailed 
to do this. They followed Hoyt, and came up with him 
about a mile and a half on his way to Marion. They shot 
him, and after burning his face with some corrosive sub- 
stance, buried him near the road. According to all rules 
of war, Hoyt had forfeited his life the moment he entered 
the fort in the capacity of a spy, but his death justly en- 
raged the Free-State men, and they determined to attack 
the Buford camp at Franklin. The attack was made on 
the evening of the 12th of August, and was directed by 
Lane; it was successful, and so panic-stricken became the 
ruffians that they abandoned a portion of their whisky 
in their flight. In the annals of Kansas the abandonment 
of whisky always denotes extreme and desperate demor- 
alization in the ruffian ranks. A cannon was secured. 

Lane established a camp three miles from Fort Saun- 
ders. As soon as the Chicago party arrived at Topeka, 
which was on the 13th of August, he ordered them to 
this camp, where they arrived at 2 o'clock on the morning 
of the 14th. In the forenoon of this day the body of 
Major Hoyt was found, and preparations were made to 



190 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



advance upon the fort. The Free-State men arrived there 
at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, but the enemy had fled; 
they left much plunder and some muskets and ammuni- 
tion; the Free-Stale men burned the fort. On the 16th 
Fort Titus, near Lecompton, was attacked by the Free- 
State men, and the garrison captured. The gun captured 
at Franklin had been supplied with ammunition by gather- 
ing up the type of the Herald of Freedom scattered about 
the streets at the sacking of Lawrence, and casting it into 
balls. It was used with great effect upon Fort Titus, and 
its reverberations so terrorized Governor Shannon that 
he fled from Lecompton, and was found embarking upon 
a mud-scow to cross the Kaw and escape in the jungles 
of the north bottoms. 

On the following day Governor Shannon came to Law- 
rence to conclude a peace in the interest of his ruffian 
friends. The whole summer's harrying of the Free-State 
settlers had not, appealed to him, but after a tew defeats 
administered by these same settlers to his cut-throats he 
came to plead their cause, and try to retrieve by treaty 
what they had lost in battle. The treaty was eoncluded, 
and prisoners exchanged. But this was not satisfactory 
to the Missourians who had appealed to the people along 
the border to gather for an invasion of the Territory. 
Shannon saw that it would be impossible for him to make 
any excuse to these when they arrived that would be satis- 
faetory. The Kansas question had entered the campaign 
for the Presidency. It was plainly seen by Pierce and Bu- 
chanan that if the Territory were not speedily quieted 
Pennsylvania would vote against the Democratic candidate. 
Shannon was ordered to accomplish this, and the storm of 



JOHN BKOWN 1"! 

civil war which he saw ahead of him rendered him impo- 
tent ; he resigned his office, and fled from the Territory to 
escape assassination at the hands of his hopeful constit- 
uency of " Law and Order" party people. The executive 
authority now fell into the hands of Secretary Woodson. 
He was the. willing tool of the ruffians ; they could not 
make any request too brutal for him to refuse. It was 
(I iermined to make clean work of the Free-State settlors 
in Kansas before the new Governor could arrive and un- 
dertake the pacification of the Territory. Atchison, 
Stringfellow and other Missourians gathered men for an 
invasion which was to be governed in its object by the 
motto, " Let the watchword be 'extermination, total and 
complete.' " About a. thousand men were gathered at 
Little Santa Fe, in Missouri, and from this point moved 
into the Territory in the direction of Osawatomie. They 
sent a detachment of some three hundred and fifty men 
against this town; it arrived on the morning of August 
30th. 

The battle here was lost by the Free-State men, who 
were commanded by John Brown, but the defense of the 
town was so heroic that from that day he was known as 
Osawatomie Brown. The best account of the battle is 
his own report: 

" Early in the morning of the 30th of August the 
enemy's scouts approached to within one mile and a half 
of the Avestern boundary of the town of Osawatomie. At 
this place my son Frederick (who was not attached to my 
force) had lodged, with some four other young men from 
Lawrence, and a young man named Garrison, from Middle 
creek. The scouts, led by a Pro-Slavery preacher named 
White, shot my son dead in the road, while he — as I have 



192 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CEASSICS 



since ascertained — supposed them to be friendly. At the 
same time they butchered Mr. Garrison, and badly man- 
gled one of the young men from Lawrence, who came with 
my son, leaving him for dead. This was not far from sun- 
rise. I had stopped during the night about two and one- 
half miles from them, and nearly one mile from Osawato- 
mie. I had no organized force, but only some twelve or 
fifteen new recruits, who were ordered to leave their prep- 
arations for breakfast and follow me into the town, as soon 
as this news was brought me. 

"As I had no means of learning correctly the force of 
the enemy, I placed twelve of the recruits in a log house, 
hoping we might be able to defend the town. I then gath- 
ered some fifteen more men together, whom we armed with 
guns ; and we started in the direction of the enemy. After 
going a few rods we could see them approaching the town 
in line of battle, about half a mile off, upon a hill west 
of the village. I then gave up all idea of doing more than 
to annoy [them], from the timber near the town, into 
which we were all retreated, and which was filled with a 
thick growth of underbrush ; but I had no time to recall the 
twelve men in the log house, and so we lost their assistance 
in the fight. At the point above named I met with Captain 
Cline, a very active young man, who had with him some 
twelve or fifteen mounted men, and persuaded him to 
go with us into the timber, on the southern shore of the 
Osage, or Marais des Cygnes, a little to the northwest 
from the village. Here the men, numbering not more 
than thirty in all, wore directed to scatter and secrete 
themselves as well as they could, and await the approach 
of the enemy. This was done in full view of them (who 
must have seen the whole movement), and had to be done 
in the utmost haste. I believe Captain Cline and some of 
his men were not even dismounted in the fight, but cannot 
assert positively. When the left wing of the enemy had 
approached to within common rifle-shot, we commenced 



.mux BROWN 



193 



tiring, aud very soon threw the northern branch of the 
enemy's line into disorder. This continued some fifteen 
or twenty minutes, which gave us an uncommon oppor- 
tunity to annoy them. Captain Cline and his men soon 
got out of ammunition, and retired across the river. 

"After the enemy rallied we kept up our fire, until, 
by the leaving of one and another, we had but six or 
seven left. We then retired across the river. We had 
one man killed — a Mr. Powers, from Captain Cline's com- 
pany — in the fight. One of my men, a Mr. Partridge, was 
shot in crossing the river. Two or three of the party who 
took part in the fight are yet missing, and may be lost or 
taken prisoners. Two were wounded ; namely, Dr. Upde- 
graff and a Mr. Collis. I cannot speak in too high terms 
of them, and of many others I have not now time to 
mention. 

" One of my best men, together with myself, was struck 
by a partially spent ball from the enemy, in the commence- 
ment of the fight, but we were only bruised. The loss I 
refer to is one of my missing men. The loss of the enemy, 
as we learn by the different statements of our own as 
well as their people, was some thirty-one or two killed, 
and from forty to fifty wounded. After burning the town 
to ashes and killing a Mr. Williams they had taken, whom 
neither party claimed, they took a hasty leave, carrying 
their dead and wounded with them. They did not attempt 
to cross the river, nor to search for us, and have not since 
returned to look over their work." 

The Missourians returned to their encampment. Lane 
sent a force of about one hundred and fifty men against 
this camp. After exchanging a few shots with their assail- 
ants the forces under Atchison and others returned in 
great haste to Missouri. But they did not remain there 
long. Woodson issued a proclamation declaring the Ter- 
-13 



194 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

ritory in a state of insurrection, and calling out all the 
Territorial militia, — which was in fact an invitation to the 
ruffians to invade Kansas and complete the "extermina- 
tion" of settlers opposed to slavery. Governor Geary was 
hurrying to the Territory, and found companies on their 
way in obedience to these calls; one company embarked 
on the Governor's boat, at Glasgow, Mo., and carried a 
brass cannon. On his way from Leavenworth to Lecomp- 
ton he detected a member of the bogus Legislature in the 
act of plundering Free-State men, and this hopeful legis- 
lator advanced upon the Governor's party with the in- 
tention of robbing it, and was only deterred by the ap- 
pearance of a wagon in the distance. 

The invasion of Kansas progressed as favorably as the 
Pro-Slavery leaders could expect. By the 15th of Sep- 
tember there were twenty-seven hundred men surround- 
ing Lawrence, under the command of Atchison, String- 
fellow, Keid, and others. The number of volunteers the 
Free-State men were able to assemble to oppose this army 
of invasion did not exceed three hundred. Brown was 
offered the command of these, but declined. He preferred 
to fight in the ranks. But he was looked upon as the 
most capable military man present, and the people relied 
upon him for their safety should they be attacked. Brown 
assembled them one afternoon and addressed them as fol- 
lows : 

"Gentlemen : It is said there are twenty-five hundred 
Missourians down at Franklin, and that they will be here 
in two hours. You can see for yourselves the smoke they 
are making by setting fire to the houses in that town. Now 
is probably the last opportunity you will have of seeing 



JOHN BROWN 



195 



a fight, so vou bad better do your best. If they should 
come up and attack us, don't yell and make a great noise, 
but remain perfectly silent and still. Wait till they get 
within twenty-live yards of you; get a good object; be 
sure you see the hind sight of your gun, — then fire. A 
great deal of powder and lead and very precious time is 
wasted by shooting too high. You had bettor aim at 
their legs than at their heads. In either case be sure 
of the hind sights of your guns. It is from the neglect 
of this that I myself have so many limes escaped; for if 
all the bullets that have been aimed at me had hit, I 
should have been as full of holes as a riddle." 

Sounder and more patriotic advice was never given 
a little band gathered to battle for their homes. But 
Governor Geary succeeded in turning back these barba- 
rous invaders before they could attack Lawrence. He 
called to his assistance the United States troops and 
marched to the camp of the Missourians, where he met 
their leaders. After much grumbling, swearing, threat- 
ening, and disorderly wrangling, they held a meeting to 
devise some excuse to present to their sodden followers 
for turning back. After resolving that they had come 
to drive out Lane and his hireling army, they reached 
the core of the controversy in the following preamble : 
" Whereas, we have here met and conferred with Gov- 
ernor Geary, who has arrived in the Territory since we 
were here called, and who has given us satisfactory evidence 
of his intention and power to execute the laws of the Terri- 
tory." They returned to Missouri, but their routes were 
marked with burning homes, plundered farms, and mur- 
dered citizens. 

So ended the campaign of the Pro-Slavery party of 



196 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



Kansas and Missouri in 1856 for the enforcement of the 
bogus laws. Had not political conditions in the East 
demanded its suppression, the Administration would have 
assisted it to a successful termination. When the horde- 
rolled back across the border their opportunity to crush 
Kansas was forever gone; it was never again in their 
power to stihV liberty. While many an outrage was yel 
to be perpetrated upon the Free-State men, freedom was 
assured when the congregated barbarians turned from 
the walls of the noble town of Lawrence, whose people 
were so patriotic and liberty-loving that nothing could sub- 
due or overcome them. 

Had not John Brown and his faithful followers lurked 
in thicket and swamp, like the great guerrilla, Marion, of 
South Carolina, ready to defend a home or settlement 
here, and attack a band of murderers there, it is uncertain 
whether the result could have been attained in this time. 
The people of Kansas honor the memory of the old hero 
who without money and without price, at the peril of his 
life and the sacrifice of his son, alone of the leaders of 
the people, ranged the land and entreated the harried and 
discouraged settlers to continue the fight for freedom till 
help should come, and who exhorted them to charge 
" Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more." 

His fame was great. Pottawatomie and Osawatomie were 
talked of in every ruffian camp, and the terror of the name 
of Old John Brown increased all along the border. He 
believed himself raised up of God to break the jaws of 
the wicked. He cared no more for political policy than 
for personal abuse or the laudations of men. He gave no 



197 

JOHN BROWN lvi 

account to man of his actions. He sought no counsel in 
the assemblies of men ; he cared nothing for their praises 
or condemnations. He held himself accountable to God 
alone, and as he understood His will he tried to execute 
if. He eared nothing for law when it stood in the way of 
right and humanity. He was a revolutionist as were the 
fathers of 1776. He was the oracle of the doctrine enun- 
ciated in the Declaration of Independence. He believed 
it agreed perfectly with the Sermon on the Mount, and 
he believed that it were better that his generation perish 
than that a syllable of either should fail. Only such men 
are truly great. 



CHAPTER X. 

FAREWELL TO KANSAS. 



Eleven slaves are now set free, — 
A kindly stroke for those who fell. 
A just and righteous parallel, — 
Their freedom won; and strange to tell, 

Kansas has gained her liberty. 

Not on far Afric's burning sand, 

When age on age has come and gone. 
And people searching in the throng 
Which passing centuries prolong, 

Ask for some hero proud and grand, 

The theme for master sculptor's hand, 
Whose ancient glory and renown 
The waiting multitude shall crown, 
Will there remote appear John Brown; — 

But will be found in every land 

His glory heralded by seers, — 
In marble cut; by poets sung; 
And his rude image shall be hung 
Round the charmed neck, and every tongue 
Shall praise him as a saint of years. 

— Joel Moody's "The Song of Kansas." 

John Brown did not intend to remain permanently in 
Kansas, so far as we now know ; it is believed that he did 
not come with that purpose. It seems that he only "turned 
aside" for a time from his life-work to take up the sword 

(198) 



joiix nitnffx 



199 



for Kansas. But it is by no means certain that he did nut 
finally come to see the possibility of his remaining in the 
State he helped to redeem and rescue. There is little 
doubt that he at one time contemplated striking his final 
blow at slavery from Kansas — that he studied long and 
seriously the establishment of the stations in the Indian 
Territory and Texas that he eventually concluded to un- 
dertake in the Appalachians. At least three purposes 
moved him to come to Kansas. The first was, to assist his 
children in the battle to make Kansas free and in the de- 
fense of their lives and property. The second was, to seek 
every opportunity to attack the institution of slavery. The 
third was, to gain practical experience in guerrilla war- 
fare. The latter was essential to the success of the great 
design so long and so devoutly intended by him. 

When the hordes from Missouri had rolled back from 
the walls of Lawrence, Governor Geary devoted himself 
in good faith to dispersing all armed bands in the Terri- 
tory. There were indictments against John Brown for 
resistance to the bogus laws, or treason, and any strict 
construction of his duty would compel the Governor to 
bring him to trial ; but he did not want the hero of Osa- 
watomie captured, for he did not know what to do with 
him. To have dealt harshly with him would have aroused 
the Free-State men to resistance. He intimated to 
Brown's partisans that he should consider it a favor if 
they would in some way prevent his officers from meeting 
him. It is by no means certain that he did not request 
his friends to induce Brown to quit the Territory for a 
season, in order that there might remain no possibility 
of his arrest. By Governor Geary's efforts the cam- 

l.ofC. 



200 TWENTIETH CENTUKY CLASSICS 

paign waged so persistently and relentlessly against the 
Free-State men of Kansas for the preceding six months 
was rendered ineffectual. There was some hope that the 
settlers would be protected in their homes. Brown con- 
sented to go East in September; but he did not relinquish 
any purpose he had formed in relation to slavery, or even 
Kansas; on the contrary, he labored diligently in these 
causes during his absence from the Territory. Tie left 
Kansas in September, probably about the 15th. He had 
his old wagon and ox team, and in this clumsy conveyance 
he rode much of the time, for he was sick. His progress 
was slow ; and he was pursued for a time by the United 
States troops, but had no trouble in evading them. He 
followed the trail over which Lane's Army of the North 
had marched in. 

Brown remained a fortnight at Tabor, Iowa, and when 
his health improved he continued his journey, arriving 
in Chicago about the 25th of October. Here the National 
Kansas Committee purchased him a suit of clothes. He 
visited the various committees formed in the Eastern 
States to assist in the settlement of Kansas ; he hoped to 
procure the means to arm a considerable number of men. 
He had in mind the great work of his life, and never for 
a moment neglected it; and on this trip he secured the 
custody of two hundred Sharps' rifles then at Tabor, Iowa, 
and these he finally carried with him to Harper's Ferry. 

The committees were able to do but little for him ; and 
finding this condition of affairs, he determined to make 
appeals directly to the people. He spoke in many New 
England towns. In Massachusetts there was a movement 
to have the Legislature appropriate twenty-five thousand 



JOHN BROWN 201 



dollars in the aid of Kansas work. The committee having 
this matter in charge requested him to appear before them 
and deliver an address. This he did. He arraigned the 
Administration, and described the conditions existing in 
Kansas and the trials Free-State people were compelled 
to bear in that Territory. He said : 

"I saw, while in Missouri, in the fall of 1855, large 
numbers of men going to Kansas to vote, and also return- 
ing after they had so done ; as they said. 

" Later in the year, I, with four of my sons, was called 
out, and traveled, mostly on foot and during the night, to 
help defend Lawrence, a distance of thirty-five miles; 
where we were detained, with some five hundred others, 
or thereabouts, from live to ten days — say an average of 
ten days — at a cost of not less than a dollar and a half 
per day, as wages; to say nothing of the actual loss ami 
suffering occasioned to many of them, by leaving their 
families sick, their crops not secured, their houses unpre- 
pared for winter, and many without houses at all. This 
was the case with myself and sons, who could not get 
houses built after returning. Wages alone would amount 
to seven thousand five hundred dollars; loss and suffering 
cannot be estimated. 

" I saw, at that time, the body of the murdered Barber, 
and was present to witness his wife and other friends 
brought in to see him with his clothes on, just as he 
was when killed. 

" I, with six sons and a son-in-law, was called out, and 
traveled, most of the way on foot, to try and save Law- 
rence, May 20 and 21, and much of the way in the night. 
From that date, neither I nor my sons, nor my son-in-law, 
could do any work about our homes, but lost our whole 
time until we left, in October ; except one of my sons, who 
had a few weeks to devote to the care of his own and his 
brother's family, who were then without a home. 



202 



TWEXTIKTIL CENTURY CLASSICS 



" From about the 20th of May, hundreds of men, like 
ourselves, lost their whole time, and entirely failed of 
securing any kind of a crop whatever. I believe it safe 
to say that five hundred Free-State men lost each one 
hundred and twenty days, which, at one dollar and a half 
per day, would be — to say nothing of attendant losses — 
ninety thousand dollars. 

'"On or about the 30th of May, two of my sons, with 
several others, were imprisoned without other crime than 
opposition to bogus legislation, and most barbarously 
treated for a time, one being held about a month, and the 
other about four months. Both had their families on the 
ground. After this both of them had their houses burned, 
and all their goods consumed by the Missourians. In 
this burning all the eight suffered. One had his oxen 
stolen, in addition." 

The Captain, laying aside his paper, here said that 
he had now at his hotel, and would exhibit to the commit- 
tee, if they so desired, the chains which one of his sons 
had worn, when he was driven, beneath a burning sun, by 
Federal troops, to a distant prison, on a charge of treason. 
The cruelties he there endured, added to the anxieties and 
sufferings incident to his position, had rendered him, the 
old man said, as his eye flashed and his voice grew sterner, 
u a maniac — yes, a maniac." 

He paused a few seconds, wiped a tear from his eye, 
and continued his narration: 

"At Black Jack, the invading Missourians wounded 
three Free-State men, one of them my son-in-law ; and 
a few days afterward one of my sons was so wounded that 
he will be a cripple for life. 

" In June, I was present and saw the mangled and dis- 
figured body of the murdered Hoyt, of Deerfield, Mass., 
brought into our camp. I knew him well. 

" I saw the ruins of many Free-State men's houses, in 
different parts of the Territory, together with grain in 



203 

JOHN BROWN 



the stack, burning, and wasted in other ways, to the 
amount, at least, of fifty thousand dollars 

« I saw several other Free-State men, besides those 1 
have named, during the summer, who were badly wounded 
by the invaders of the Territory. < 

" I know that for much of the time during the summer, 
the travel over portions of the Territory was entirely cut 
off, and that none but bodies of armed men dared to 

move at all. . . ., 

« I know that for a considerable time the mails on 
different routes were entirely stopped; and notwithstand- 
ing there were abundant troops in the Territory to escort 
the mails, I know that such escorts were not furnished, 
as they ought to have been. 

"I saw while it was standing, and afterwards saw the 
ruin, of, a most valuable house, the property of a highly 
civilized, intelligent, and exemplary Christian Indian, 
which was burned to the ground by the Kuffians, because 
its owner was suspected of favoring Free-State men. He 
was known as Ottawa Jones, or John T- Jones 

"In September last, I visited a beautiful little 1 lee- 
State town called Stanton, on the north side of the Osage 
(or Marais des Cygnes, as it is sometimes called), from 
which every inhabitant had lied for fear of their lives, 
even after having built a strong log house, or wooden 
fort, at a heavy expense, for their protection Many oi 
them had left their effects, liable to be destroyed or carried 
off not being able to remove them. This was to me a 
most gloomy scene, and like a visit to a sepulcher. 

" Deserted houses and cornfields were to be found m 
almost every direction south of the Kansas river. 
" I have not yet told all I saw in Kansas > 

"I once saw three mangled bodies, two of which were 
dead, and one alive, but with twenty bullet and buckshot 
holes in him, after the two murdered men had am on the 
ground, to be worked at by flies, for some eighteen hours. 
One of these young men was my own son. 



204 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

The stern old man faltered. He struggled long to sup- 
press all exhibition of his feelings, and soon, but with a 
subdued, and in a faltering, tone continued : 

" I saw Mr. Parker, whom I well knew, all bruised 
about the head, and with his throat partly cut, after he 
had been dragged, sick, from the house of Ottawa done.-, 
and thrown over the bank of the Ottawa creek for dead. 

"About the first of September, I, and five sick and 
wounded sons, and a son-in-law, were obliged to lie on 
the ground, without shelter, for a considerable time, and 
at times almost in a state of starvation, and dependent 
on the charity of the Christian Indian I have before 
named, and his wife. 

" I saw Dr. Graham, of Prairie City, who was a pris- 
oner with the Ruffians on the 2d of June, and was present 
when they wounded him, in an attempt to kill him, as he 
was trying to save himself from being murdered by them 
during the fight at Black Jack. 

" I know that numerous other persons, whose names [ 
cannot now remember, suffered like hardships and ex- 
posures to those I have mentioned. 

" I know well that on or about the 14th of September, 
1856, a large force of Missourians and other Ruffians, 
said by Governor Geary to be twenty-seven hundred in 
number, invaded the Territory, burned Franklin, and, 
while the smoke of that place was going up behind them, 
they, on the same day, made their appearance in full view 
of, and within about a mile of, Lawrence; and I know of 
no reason why they did not attack that place, except that 
about one hundred Free-State men volunteered to go out 
and did go out, on the open plain before the town, and give 
them offer of a fight, which, after getting scattering sln>t< 
from our men, they declined, and retreated back towards 
Franklin. I saw the whole thing. The Government troops, 
at this time, were at Lecompton, a distanee of twelve 
miles only from Lawrence, with Governor Geary; and 



JOHN BROWN 205 

yet, notwithstanding runners had been dispatched to ad- 
vise him, in good time, of the approach and setting out 
of the enemy, (who had to march some forty miles to 
reach Lawrence,) he did not, on that memorable occasion, 
get a single soldier on the ground until after the enemy 
had retreated to Franklin, and been gone for more than 
five hours. This is the way he saved Lawrence. And it 
is just the kind of protection the Free-State men have re- 
ceived from the Administration from the first." 

Brown visited his family at North Elba, X. Y., but did 
not remain long at home; he returned to New England 
early in March, and continued his work on the platform. 
He met with some encouragement; eighty dollars was 
given him in three nights by two towns in Connecticut. 
One of these towns was Canton, where his father and 
mother were brought up. The old granite monument of 
his grandfather, John Brown, of Revolutionary fame, 
stood in the burial-ground there, though the old patriot 
had been buried on the banks of the Hudson. The people 
agreed to send the venerable monument to North Elba, to 
be there set up and inscribed with the name of his son 
Frederick, and other names as occasion arose. The monu- 
ment was sent, and was an object of great interest to the 
many who visited the grave of the martyr in after-years. 
At Hartford and Canton Brown read from his manuscript 
an appeal for assistance; this appeal explains his objects, 
and shows that he was then contemplating greater things : 

" I am trying to raise from twenty to twenty-five thou- 
sand dollars in the free States, to enable me to continue 
my efforts in the cause of freedom. Will the people of 
Connecticut, my native State, afford me some aid in this 
undertaking ? Will the gentlemen and ladies of Hartford, 



^06 TWENTIETH CENTUEY CLASSICS 

where I make my first appeal in this State, set the example 
of an earnest effort? Will some gentleman or lady take 
hold and try what can be done by small contributions from 
comities, cities, towns, societies, or churches, or in some 
other way? I think the little beggar-children in the 
streets arc sufficiently interested to warrant their contrib- 
uting, it' there was any need of it, to secure the object, 
i was told thai newspapers in a certain city were dressed 
in mourning on hearing that I was killed and scalped in 
Kansas, but F did not know of it until I reached the place. 
Much good it did me In the same place I met a more cool 
reception than in any other place where I have stopped. 
If my friends will hold up my hands while I live, I will 
freely absolve them from any expense over me when I am 
dead. I do not ask for pay, but shall be most grateful for 
all the assistance I can get." 

It was while in Connecticut at this time that Brown 
contracted for the construction of a thousand pikes, which 
he afterwards carried with him to Harper's Ferry. lie 
visited many of the principal cities on this second visit 
to l\~ew England, and addressed large audiences. He also 
made the personal acquaintance of the men most promi- 
nent in the work of aiding Kansas; and he met the abo- 
litionists then laboring in their way to free the slaves. 
Eli Thayer was much impressed with his services to 
the cause of freedom, and did not ascertain until he was 
an independent candidate for Congress, in 1860, when 
he was in opposition to his party, which was then engag- 
ing in the mighty conflict for the preservation of the 
Union, that Brown was a detriment to the cause of liberty 
in Kansas. He offered Brown a home in a "boom town*' 
enterprise in what is now West Virginia, at the mouth of 



JOHN BROWN 



207 



the Big Sandy river, called Ceredo, and which was a 
failure. 

Brown received most encouragement from the Massa- 
chusetts State Committee. It proposed to obtain an 
appropriation of one hundred thousand dollars to be used 
for relief in Kansas; to organize a force, "well armed 
and under control of the famous John Brown, to repel 
Border-Buffi an outrage and defend Free-State men.'' In 
the explanation of its objects it was recited that "many of 
the Free State leaders, being engaged in speculations, arc 
willing to accept peace on any terms. Brown and his 
friends will hold to the original principle of making Kan- 
sas free, without regard to private interests." This is jusi 
what Brown had been doing in Kansas, and what opposi- 
tion there was in the Free-State ranks in the Territory 
to Brown came from his strict adherence to these original 
principles. But with all his efforts, the results in Xew 
England was disappointing to him. His chagrin found 
expression in the following quaint document: 

"OLD JOHN BROWN'S FAREWELL 

TO THE PLYMOUTH ROCKS, BUXKER HILL MONUMENTS. CHARTER 
OAKS, AND UNCLE TOM'S CAEINS. 

" He has left for Kansas; has been trying since he 
came out of the Territory to secure an outfit, or, in other 
words, the means of arming and thoroughly equipping 
his regular minute-men, who are mixed up with the people 
of Kansas. And he leaves the State with a feeling of 
deepest sadness, that after exhausting his own small 
means, and with his family and his brave men suffering 
hunger, cold, nakedness, and some of them sickness, 
wounds, imprisonment, and others death ; that, lying on 
the ground for months in the most sickly, unwholesome, 
and uncomfortable places, some of the time with sick and 



208 TWENTIETH CENTUBT CLASSICS 

wounded, destitute of any shelter, hunted like wolves, and 
sustained in part by Indians ; that after all this, in order 
to sustain a cause which every citizen of this 'glorious 
Republic' is under equal moral obligation to do, and for 
the neglect of which he will be held accountable by God, — 
a cause in which every man, woman, and child of the 
entire human family has a deep and awful interest, — 
that when no wages were asked nor expected, he cannot 
secure, amid all the wealth, luxury, and extravagance of 
this "heaven-exalted' people, even the necessary supplies 
of the common soldier. 'How are the mighty fallen !' 

" I am destitute of horses, baggage-wagons, tents, har- 
ness, saddles, bridles, holsters, spurs, and belts; camp 
equipage, such as cooking and eating utensils, blankets, 
knapsacks, intrenching-tools, axes, shovels, spades, mat- 
tocks, crowbars; have not a supply of ammunition; 
have not money sufficient to pay freight and traveling 
expenses; and left my family poorly supplied with com- 
mon necessaries. 

"Boston, April, 1857." 

John Brown was working with method to accomplish 
an end — perfecting arrangements to accomplish the de- 
sign he had cherished for more than twenty years. He 
had not yet disclosed this plan to anyone — perhaps in its 
more definite outlines so far as they were fixed, not even 
to his wife. He made the acquaintance, in April, 1857, 
of Hugh Forbes, who was an Englishman late from Italy, 
where he had been a silk merchant and a follower of 
Garibaldi. In one of the downward turns of the cause 
of his leader he found it necessary to flee, and, leaving 
his wife and daughter in Paris, he sought the hospitable 
shores of America. He was a fencing-master, and claimed 
an extensive knowledge of military tactics and guerrilla 



JOHN BBOWN 



2 



warfare. He proposed to Brown to translate a French 
work on street-fighting and other varieties of desultory 
tactics, and print it for the use of his army. To this 
Brown was favorable, and he furnished the means to bring 
out the work, believing that it would prove of great service 
to his men. Forbes was also employed, or taken on some 
terms not now well understood, to instruct the army to be 
raised and equipped by Brown to carry out his intentions. 
He was to come to Tabor, Iowa, in May, 1S57, but did 
not arrive until the 9th of August. Being dissatisfied, 
he left there early in November, and went East, where he 
divulged such of Brown's plans as had been made known 
to him. These revelations were made to prominent public 
men, and to persons who had assisted Brown and were in 
sympathy with his designs. 

From Tabor, Iowa, Brown came to Kansas, arriving 
at the farm of E. B. Whitman, a little south of Lawrence, 
on the 5th of November. He intended to remain but a 
short time, and his object was to enlist men skilled in tht 
rough guerrilla warfare of the Kansas border in his army 
of invasion of Virginia. His presence was made known 
to few, for it was feared that he might be arrested on the 
old indictments for treason or conspiracy. From Law- 
rence he went to the farm of Daniel Sheridan, south of 
Topeka. There he was joined by John E. Cook, Kichard 
Realf, and Luke F. Parsons. He and J. H. Kagi visited 
Manhattan. With the persons named, and •"Colonel 
Whipple," or Aaron D. Stevens, Charles W. Moffett, and 
Richard Richardson, a colored man of intelligence. Brown 
left Kansas for Iowa late in Xovember. They arrived 

without incident, and soon afterward the whole company 
—14 



210 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



were moved to the Quaker community at Springdale, Iowa, 
and were given a heartfelt welcome by the good people of 
that place. The gratitude and approval of humanity are 
due the Quakers of every part .of America for their serv- 
ices in effecting the abolition of slavery. They were the 
first body to oppose the institution in both Europe and 
America, and were ever in advance in this righteous cause 
as the work for its consummation dragged slowly along. 
No black man or woman or child fleeing from a crushing 
and degrading bondage with bloody-fanged dogs crying 
on the trail at the instance of the minions of the laws of 
the nation, ever knocked in vain at a Quaker door. The 
underground railroad ran from one Quaker settlement 
i'- another, and was always safest where the Friends were 
most numerous, and to them the distress-cry of the fugitive 
black man was a call from God that was never unheeded. 
The company of .John Brown gathered at Springdale 
consisted of eleven men, — John Brown, Owen Brown, 
Aaron D. Stevens, John Henri Kagi, John Edwin Cook, 
Richard Realf, Charles P. Tidd, William Leeman, Luke 
F. Parsons, Charles W. Moffett, and Richard Richardson. 
During the winter George B. Gill, Steward Taylor, Ed- 
win Coppoc and Barclay Coppoc joined the little army. 
John Brown installed Aaron D. Stevens in the position 
of military instructor, left vacant by the desertion of 
Forbes. As soon as provision for his men for the winter 
was completed, Brown returned East ; this was in Jan- 
uary, 1858. He stopped in Ohio to see his son John, 
and from there he went to the home of Frederick Douglass, 
in Rochester, X. Y. He made his home with Douglass 
for a time, and while there, drew up his constitution for 



JOHN BROWN 



211 



a provisional government. He began also to disclose to 
his friends his plans for the future — very cautiously at 
first, and by vague hints and suggestions rather than by 
direct avowal. He inquired of Theodore Parker by letter: 
"Do you think any of my Garrisonian friends, either at 
Boston, Worcester, or any other place, can be induced to 
supply a little 'straw,' if I will absolutely make 'bricks' V 
He desired something less than a thousand dollars. "He 
wishes to avoid publicity, and will not see his family. 
Meantime he is staying with Fred Douglass under the 
nom de guerre of X. Hawkins. He 'expects to overthrow 
slavery' in a large part of the country," wrote Edward 
Morton to F. B. Sanborn. He wrote Sanborn: "My 
reasons for keeping quiet are such that when I left Kan- 
sas I kept it from every friend there; and I suppose it 
is still understood that I am hiding somewhere in the 
Territory." These were his reasons for not going to Bos- 
ton, or even passing through Albany. He was at the 
home of Gerrit Smith, near Peterboro, X. Y., February 
20th, 1858. Here he was met by Mr. Sanborn, who says 
that on the evening of Washington's birthday "the whole 
outline of Brown's campaign in Virginia was laid before 
our little council, to the astonishment and almost the dis- 
may of those present." The discussion continued till past 
midnight, "but nothing could shake the purpose of the 
old Puritan. Every difficulty had been foreseen and pro- 
vided against in some manner; the grand difficulty of 
all — the manifest hopelessness of undertaking anything 
so vast with such slender means — was met with the text 
of Scripture: 'If God be for us, who can be against us?' 
He had made nearly all his arrangements: he had so 



212 TWENTIETH OEJMTUEY CLASSICS 

many men enlisted, so many hundred weapons, — all be 
now wanted was the small sum of money. With that he 
would open his campaign in the spring, and he had no 
doubt that the enterprise 'would pay/ as he said." 

On the following day the question was again taken up. 
Brown carried his point. "You see how it is," said 
Gerrit Smith to Mr. Sanborn ; "our dear old friend has 
made up his mind to this course, and cannot be turned 
from it. We cannot give him up to die alone ; we must 
support him." He went by the way of Brooklyn to Bos- 
ton at the instance of Mr. Sanborn, arriving there on the 
4th of March. His visit to Boston was made secretly. 
He saw Theodore Parker, who encouraged him but was 
hot sanguine of the success of his effort. The amount of 
money required was given him, and he considered his 
journey successful at every point. He was in communica- 
tion with Forbes, and seems to have anticipated no seri- 
ous trouble from his course. When the success of his 
plans seemed so nearly complete — when, climbing up from 
the devious defiles of the valley of disappointments and 
vexations, he saw from the height of his mountain-top the 
broad plains of peace and freedom unfold in a panorama 
at his feet, he wrote to his wife and children in the rude 
home in the frozen forests of the Adirondacks : " The 
anxiety I feel to see my wife and children once more, I 
am unable to describe. I want exceedingly to see my big 
baby and Ruth's baby, and to see how that little company 
of sheep look about this time. The cries of my poor 
sorrow-stricken, despairing children, whose 'tears on their 
cheeks' are ever in my eyes, and whose sighs are ever "n 
my ears, may however prevent my enjoying the happiness 



.TOHX BKOWN 213 

I so much desire. But, courage, courage, courage! — the 
great work of my life (the unseen Hand that 'guided me, 
and who has indeed holden my right hand, may hold it 
still/ though I have not known Him at all as I ought) 
I may jet see accomplished (God helping), and be per- 
mitted to return, and 'rest at evening.' " 

John Brown and his son, John Brown, jr., were in Phil- 
adelphia, where a conference was held with a number of 
colored men. They went from thence to Connecticut, and 
from there, by the way of New York, to North Elba. 
They remained but a few days, and returned to Peterboro, 
arriving at Gerrit Smith's April 2d. Mr. Smith fully 
approved the arrangements made for the invasion of Vir- 
ginia, and "was buoyant and hopeful about it, and showed 
great animation and interest." From Peterboro they went 
to Kochester, where they separated. John Brown went to 
St. Catherine's, Canada, early in April, writing from that 
place to his son John, from whom he had parted at Roch- 
ester, April 8th. There were many fugitive slaves in St. 
Catherine's, and he was probably looking among them 
for additions to his little army. A certain Harriet Tub- 
man, a colored woman of much influence, was there at the 
time, and she seems to have aided him in this work. 
But he did not remain long in Canada. He went to 
Iowa, and from Springdale wrote his wife on the 27th of 
April. He had come to transfer his army to Chatham, 
Canada West, which he accomplished quickly, for he wrote 
from that town to his wife, May 12th. The Provisional 
Constitution had been adopted here before the letter to his 
wife was written. It began with the following preamble: 
"Whereas, Slavery throughout its entire existence in the 



214 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



United State?, is none other than a most barbarous, un- 
provoked, and unjustifiable war of one portion of its 
citizens upon another portion — the only conditions of 
which are perpetual imprisonment and hopeless servitude 
or absolute extermination — in utter disregard and viola- 
tion of those eternal and self : evi dent truths set forth in 
our Declaration of Independence." 

But at this moment, when it seemed that all things 
were turning to favor the rapid consummation of John 
Brown's life-purpose, unexpected developments forced a 
postponement of the expedition for many months. Forbes 
continued to talk of Brown's plans. He gave information 
to Senators in Washington and influential persons in New 
England. The result was that Mr. Smith, Theodore Par- 
ker, Mr. Sanborn and those knowing his full plans wrote 
him that the expedition must be deferred for a year. 
Brown met Mr. Stearns in New York about the 20th of 
May. He went to Boston, where he was assured that he 
would be furnished two or three thousand dollars for the 
execution of the plan in the following winter. In the 
meantime it was believed best for him to return to Kansas, 
for, as Forbes did not know that Virginia was the objective 
point of Brown's expedition, his return to the Territory 
and the resumption of the old warfare there would 
serve to contradict Forbes's revelations. He left Bos- 
ton June 3d, ''with five hundred dollars in gold, and 
liberty to retain all the arms," visited North Elba, passed 
through Ohio and Iowa into Nebraska, and reached Law- 
rence on the 25th of June, 1858. He was warmly wel- 
comed by his friends and the people of Kansas generally ; 
among these were the correspondents of the Eastern news- 



JOHN BROWN 



215 



papers. Redpath records al Length a conversation "which 
lasted nearly the whole afternoon." He was accompanied 
by Kagi, and they returned to Kansas, as Kagi gave out, 
because of the betrayal of their plans by Forbes. On Mon- 
day, the 26th, Brown and Kagi left Lawrence for south- 
ern Kansas to visit Mr. Adair and other friends near Osa- 
watomie, and also to consult with Captain James Mont- 
gomery. 

The Marais des Cygnes massacre had occurred on May 
19th. Trouble had existed in Linn and Bourbon coun- 
ties for a long time. When the Free-State people settled 
in the Kansas Valley and northern Kansas in such num- 
bers that the danger from invasions from Missouri ceased 
and civil order appeared, the worst characters among the 
ruffians betook themselves to these counties, and made their 
headquarters at Fort Scott. Among them were Clark and 
the Lieutenant Brockett who was captured with Captain 
Pate. In 1858 the Free-State men had increased in Linn 
county to the point that they could take the initiative. 
Pro-Slavery men occupying the claims from which Free- 
State men had been driven were made to leave. The feel- 
ings of each party toward the other were very bitter. 
The leader of the Pro-Slavery people was Charles A. Ham- 
ilton. He made up a list of some sixty Free-State men 
whom he intended to kill. He had lived on a claim near 
the Missouri line and near the little town of Trading 
Post, but was at this time living in Missouri. He was 
the commander of a company of ruffians known as the 
" Bloody Reds." On the 19th of May he rode over the 
line, gathered up eleven of his neighbors, all unarmed, 
and many of them inoffensive and peaceable, formed them 



216 TWENTIETH CENTUEY CLASSICS 

in line in a gloomy gulch and shot them. Four were in- 
stantly killed, and all the survivors but one desperately 
wounded. The ruffians mounted their horses and fled, and 
Hamilton was never again heard of " by anyone familiar 
with this bloody crime." A blacksmith named Snyder 
had saved himself from the same fate by resisting witli 
his shotgun. Brown went to the point where these mur- 
ders were committed. It was believed for some time 
that he had purchased the claim upon which Snyder's 
shop was located, and that he had built a strong fort upon 
it, called Fort Snyder ; but this he never did. He enlisted 
a few men, among them many of the foremost in the Ter- 
ritory. He assumed the name of Shubel Morgan, and his 
volunteers were known as " Shubel Morgan's Company." 
The nine rules for the government of the company arc 
characteristic of the stern and Puritanical character of 
Brown, and they are yet preserved in the library of the 
Historical Society. Augustus Wattles and James Mont- 
gomery were privates in this company commanded by 
" Shubel Morgan." 

The company saw. considerable service during the sum- 
mer. Governor Denver posted some soldiers in the vicin- 
ity of the camp, which was near Trading Post. On the 
23d of July Brown wrote that some of the soldiers of this 
company had offered him their services, and that he had 
declined them. Afterwards there was an attempt to cap- 
ture Brown, and this duty was intrusted to the United 
States troops. There was a sharp engagement between 
Brown's company and these troops at Fox's Ford, on Big 
Sugar creek, in which a number were wounded on each 
side. The troops were commanded by a Captain Farns- 



JOHN BROWN". 



217 



worth. Brown and his men are said to have disguised 
themselves as stone-masons, and worked for some time 
on a stone house being built by Augustus Wattles. Farns- 
worth and his command stopped at the house of Mr. 
Wattles one day for dinner or water or under some other 
pretext, but really because they suspected that these stone- 
cutters were Brown and his men. Brown was then con- 
cealed in the loft of Mr. Wattles's cabin. While Mr. Wat- 
tles and Captain Farnsworth discussed the desperate cour- 
age of Old John Brown he was lying with his eye at a 
rent in the wall not ten feet away, listening to the young 
officer, who boasted that he would make him prisoner yet. 
He remained for more than an hour, and it afforded Mr. 
Wattles much amusement to keep the officer always on the 
subject, as he knew that Brown was listening to all he 
said. 

During the summer he was for a time sick with an 
ague ; this so weakened him that he was unable to remain 
in camp. He went to the home of his brother-in-law, the 
Rev. Mr. Adair, where he was very ill from an attack of 
typhoid fever. It was the 10th of September when he 
could again write to his friends. He returned to camp as 
soon as he was again well enough to bear the hardships 
of the camp life, but he wrote that he was anxious to 
reengage in preparation for the invasion of Virginia. 

On Sunday, December 19, 1858, a negro man came 
from Missouri to Brown's camp and begged that his wife 
and family be rescued from slavery before they were sold 
to be carried South. The following Monday night Brown, 
with a number of men from his company, made a foray 
into Missouri, and secured these slaves, eleven in number, 



218 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



and carried them into Kansas. They were carried to the 
Pottawatomie and kept in a cabin on the open prairie 
for more than a month, while every ravine and thicket 
swarmed with people searching for them. No one thought 
of their being concealed in the deserted old cabin in plain 
view of a number of houses, and they escaped without 
detection. This raid was the occasion which caused the 
writing of the famous communication known, as " Old 
Brown's Parallels," which is as follows : 

"OLD BROWN'S PARALLELS. 
" Trading Post, Kansas, Jany, — 1859. 

" Gents : You will greatly oblige a humble friend by 
allowing me the use of your columns while I briefly state 
Two paralells in my poor way. Not One year ago Eleven 
quiet citizens of this neighborhood (Viz) Wm Robertson, 
Wm Colpetzer, Amos Hall, Austin Hall, John Campbell 
Asa Snyder, Thos Stilwell, Wm Hairgrove, Asa Hairgrove, 
Patrick Ross, and B. L. Reed, were gathered up from their 
work, & their homes by an armed force (under One Hamil- 
ton) & without trial ; or opportunity to speak in their own 
defense were formed into a line & all but one shot Five 
killed, & Five wounded. One fell unharmed pretending 
to be dead. All were left for dead. Now I inquire what 
action has ever since (the occasion in May last) been 
taken by either the President of the United States; the 
Governor of Missouri : the Governor of Kansas or any of 
their tools: or by any proslavery or administration man? 

" Now for the other parallel. On Sunday the 19th of 
December a Negro man called Jim came over to the Osage 
settlement from Missouri & stated that he together with 
his Wife, Two Children, & another Negro man were to 
be sold within a day or Two & beged for help to get 
away. On Monday night of the following day Two small 
companies were made up to go to Missouri & forcibly lib- 



JOHN BROWN 



219 



erate the Five slaves together with other slaves. One of 
those companies I assumed to direct. We proceeded to 
the place surrounded the buildings liberated the slaves ; & 
also took certain other property supposed to belong to the 
Estate. We however learned before leaving that a portion 
of the articles we had taken belonged to a man living on 
the plantation as a tenant & who was supposed to have 
no interest in the Estate. We promptly restored to him 
all we had taken so far I believe. We then went to another 
where we freed Five more slaves, took some property ; 
& Two white men. We moved all slowly away into the 
territory for some distance & then sent the White men back 
telling them to follow us as soon as they chose to do so. 
The other company freed One female slave took some 
property ; & as I am informed killed One White man (the 
master) who fought against the liberation. 

" Now for a comparison. Eleven persons are forcibly 
restored to their natural; cC* until/enable rights Avith but 
one man killed; & all 'Hell is stirred from beneath.' 
It is currently reported that the Governor of J\l i^- 
souri has made a requisition upon the Governor of Kan- 
sas for the delivery of all such as were concerned in 
the last named 'dreadful outrage': the Marshall of Kan- 
sas is said to be collecting a posse of Missouri (not Kansas 
men) at West Point in Missouri a little town about Ten 
Miles distant to 'enforce the laws,' & and all proslavery 
conservative Free State dough faced men & administration 
tools are filled with holy horror. 

Respectfully Yours, 

John Brown." 

The Governor of Missouri offered a reward for the 
capture and delivery of John Brown, and this was supple- 
mented by a reward offered by James Buchanan, President 
of the United States, of two hundred and fifty dollars. 
Brown immediately had printed a small handbill in which 



220 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

he publicly proclaimed that he thereby offered a reward 
for Buchanan, declaring that if any lover of his country 
would deliver that august personage to him, well tied, at 
Trading Post, he would willingly pay such patriot the 
sum of two dollars and fifty cents. It is said that reflec- 
tion upon the matter afterwards convinced him that this 
sum was more than the President was actually worth for 
any purpose. 

Brown now prepared to leave Kansas. He was anxious 
to be on his way to Virginia. He had taken an old wagon 
from the master in Missouri when he rescued the slaves. 
This was concealed in a rocky gorge some distance from 
the old cabin on the prairie where the slaves were kept. 
It was of a peculiar pattern, and almost covered with 
chains — chains here, and chains there, chains everywhere 
— and they made a deafening rattle and clangor when the 
old wagon was in motion. About January 20, 1859, 
Brown put his negroes into this wagon, hitched to it 
the two yoke of oxen taken from the slave-owner, and 
set out for Canada. He was accompanied for a short 
distance by some friends from the Pottawatomie; but 
they soon turned back to their homes. The slaves had 
little idea of the distance to Canada. Perhaps they ex- 
pected to arrive there in a day or two. 

"Jim, who was driving an ox team, 'supposed to belong 
to the estate,' asked one of the liberators, ' How far is 
it to Canada?' 

" ' Twenty-five hundred miles.' 

"'Twenty-five hundred! Laws-a-massa ! Twenty-five 
hundred miles! !No git dar 'fore spring!' cried Jim, as, 
raising his heavy whip and bringing it down on the ox's 



JOHN BROWN 221 

back, he shouted impatiently, k Whoa-haw, Buck; git 
up dar— g'lang, Bill !' " 

The audacity and daring of the man is shown in the 
commencement of this journey. He was almost alone. 
A price was on his head. His conveyance was such as 
to attract attention anywhere, and the slowest known to 
traffic or travel. His route ran near the capital of the 
Territory, w r here he was wanted on many a charge. He 
had little or no food, and was clad in thin cotton garments 
worn by him during the summer. But his stout heart 
knew no fear. He pushed forward, the chains of the old 
wagon rattling as it rolled over the prairie or plunged into 
ravines and draws. But he cared not for chains so long- 
as they bound no slave. And he knew where to find his 
friends. At the house of Major James B. Abhott he 
tarried for a short time. He avoided Lawrence, and 
came to Topeka by the way of Auburn, on the Wakarusa. 
Here he remained a day or two, at the house of Daniel 
Sheridan, and some supplies of food and clothing were 
given him. He crossed the Kansas river in the night, and 
was entertained by Gyrus Packard, Esq., a Free-State 
man from Maine. He left the house of his friend before 
daylight, and followed on his way to Canada the old trail 
made by Lane's Army of the North. Beyond Holton he 
was threatened by a posse, commanded by Dr. J. ]ST. O. P. 
Wood, of Lecompton, and numbering some forty men. 
These were reinforced by some Atchison parties. He sent 
a messenger to Topeka for help, and some thirty-five men 
responded, but before they arrived the posse was routed. 
The last battle fought by the old Puritan on Kansas soil 
resulted in the ignominious defeat of his enemies. After 



222 TWENTIETH CENTUKY CLASSICS 

having been reinforced by the party from Atchison, they 
supposed it impossible for Brown to escape them. There 
were forty-two of them, and they advanced to capture 
Brown's camp. At this moment Brown and seven men 
came out of a wood and opened fire. Never wore men 
more surprised. They turned and fled in great disorder ; 
some were unhorsed. These were so terror-stricken that 
they seized the tails of the horses ridden by their fright- 
ened comrades, and disappeared over the prairie "just 
hitting the high places." Four of the party were cap- 
tured by Brown. They wore retained some days and 
released on the Nebraska side of the State line. They 
requested that their horses be returned to them, but Brown 
assured them that they could well afford to walk back to 
Kansas. This last battle of the slave-owners with Brown 
in Kansas was called derisively, "the Battle of the Spurs," 
by Richard J. Hintnn, then a Kansas correspondent for 
Eastern newspapers, and an ardent Free-State man and 
champion of freedom. The battle has always been called 
by the name given it by Colonel Hinton. 

Brown passed through the State of Iowa during the 
month of February. At Tabor he was not well received. 
At Springdale, on the 25th, he was furnished food and 
clothing for his fugitives and charged nothing for their 
entertainment. He addressed "full houses for two nights 
in succession," and a small sum of money was realized by 
the collections. His notes for these addresses yet exist, 
and are characteristic of the man. At Iowa City he was 
assailed by the postmaster, with the following result: 

" In the midst of a crowd on the street-corner a quiet 
old countryman was seen listening to a champion of slav- 



JOHN BKOWN *' JU 



ery, who was denouncing Brown as a reckless, bloody 
outlaw,— a man who never dared to fight fair, but skulked 
and robbed, and murdered in the dark, adding, 'If I could 
get sight of him I would shoot him on the spot; 1^ would 
never give him a chance to steal any more slaves.' 'My 
friend,' said the countryman in his modest way, 'you talk 
very brave ; and as you will never have a better opportunity 
to shoot Old Brown than right here and now, you can 
have a chance.' Then, drawing two revolvers from his 
pockets he offered one to the braggart, requesting him to 
take it and shoot as quick as he pleased. The mob orator 
slunk away, and Brown returned his pistols to his 
pocket." 

Brown carried his fugitives through Chicago to De- 
troit, where he crossed with them into Canada. From 
Canada he went to Cleveland, Ohio, where he sold the 
horses taken from the enemy in the " Battle of the Spurs." 
He explained that the title might be defective, but this 
did not affect the price secured. When his business in 
Cleveland was transacted, he went on to his home in 
North Elba. He remained there but a short time, and 
went on to New England. He went by the way of Peter- 
boro, N. Y., where he stopped to consult Gerrit Smith. 
He spent his birthday, the last that came to him in this 
world, with Mr. Sanborn, at Concord, Massachusetts. 
Then he went to Boston to begin his preparations to go 
upon his expedition to attack slavery in Virginia. 



CHAPTEK XL 

THE KENNEDY FARM. 



Are your hands lifted towards the sun, 

What time our onsets wax and wane? 
Do you see troops of angels run 

In shining armor o'er the plain? 
I know not; but I know, full sooth, 

No wrath of hell, nor rage of man, 
Nor recreant servant of the Truth, 

Can balk us of our Canaan. 

— Richard Realf. 

John Brown succeeded in obtaining from his friends 
in New England and New York a sum of money consid- 
ered by him sufficient to warrant his moving forward 
in the enterprise he believed himself called of God to 
undertake for humanity. He bore the burdens of the poor 
and oppressed as they groaned in bitter bondage, cried 
under the merciless lash, and shrieked in the bloody jaws 
of the fierce hounds which pulled them doAvn in their 
flight towards a land of refuge and freedom. 

The summer of 1859 was spent in moving the arms 
from Ohio and other points to the vicinity of Harper's 
Ferry, providing a temporary base of operations, enlist- 
ing men for his little army, and in becoming familiar 
with the topography of the country in which he intended 
to carry on his warfare against the "sum of all villainies." 

Chambereburg, Pennsylvania, was made the first point 

(224) 



JOHN BROWN 



225 



of concentration. This town is some fifty miles north of 
Harper's Ferry; and at that time there was no railroad 
connecting the two towns. When the rifles arrived there 
from Ohio and the pikes from Connecticut, it was neces- 
sary to transport them to the rendezvous on the Potomac 
in wagons. Brown himself drove the teams on many of 
these trips to remove the arms. 

On June 23d Brown wrote his family from Akron, 
Ohio, and between that date and the 30th of the same 
month he made his way to Chambersburg ; for at that 
time he wrote to Kagi, " We leave here to-day for Harper's 
Ferry, via Hagerstown." There were with him at this 
time his sons Owen and Oliver, and Jerry Anderson. 
John E. Cook was already living in Harper's Ferry, 
where Brown and his companions appeared July 3d. He 
began the search for a suitable location for his rendezvous, 
and on the 4th was directed by a Marylander to the farm 
belonging to the heirs of Dr. Booth Kennedy, some five 
miles from Harper's Ferry, and on the Maryland side of 
the Potomac. There were two houses on this farm, both 
standing back from the highway, which was then little 
used ; one of these houses was almost concealed by thickets 
which grew between it and the road. The place was 
admirably adapted to Brown's purposes. He represented 
that he was a farmer, from New York; that the frosts 
had ruined his crops, and that he desired to come to a 
ccuntry more favorable in climate to his business. He 
wished to rent a farm until he could become sufficiently 
acquainted with the country to not be at a disadvantage 
in buying. He rented the farm until the following March, 
paying therefor the sum of thirty-five dollars, and agreeing 

—15 



226 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



to care for some live-stock still on the farm, belonging to 
the heirs. He gave as his name, Isaac Smith, and the 
transaction was made in the name of I. Smith & Sons. 

When the constitution was adopted in Chatham, Can- 
ada, a provisional government was formed and its officers 
elected: Captain John Brown was made Commander-in- 
chief; John Henri Kagi was elected Secretary of War;, 
Richard Realf, Secretary of State; and Owen Brown, 
Treasurer. This government was not to become fully op- 
erative until after the invasion of Virginia and a consid- 
erable number of slaves had been liberated, when it was 
to be proclaimed in the fastnesses of the Appalachians — 
in the inaccessible, abrupt and wooded hills of the Blue 
Ridge ranges. It was never intended to be the govern- 
ment of any body of people in Canada, but was to be 
the fundamental law of Brown's men and the accessions 
to their body in Virginia and other Southern States. His 
plans contemplated an advance from Harper's Ferry, 
south, through the rugged hills, ultimately into the very 
heart of the slave territory. A guerrilla warfare was to 
be waged against slave-owners ; slaves were to be liberated, 
armed, and turned against their masters, who were to 
be kidnapped and only restored to freedom upon their 
manumission and release of a stipulated number of slaves. 
Forts were to be established at points difficult of access 
and favorable for defense; these were to be in charge of 
armed men, and as near one another as circumstances de- 
manded, — at first some five miles intervening. The de- 
scent upon the plantations was to be made from these 
fortified camps ; their location was to be made known to 
such slaves as could be safely intrusted with the infonna- 



JOHN BROWN 



227 



tion, and were to serve as asylums or posts of refuge for 
the slaves who from any cause fled from any master. 
Slavery was declared by Brown to be a state of war be- 
tween master and slave, consequently any armed force in 
the interest of the slave was entitled by the rules of war 
to support from the enemy if it could be seized. On 
this theory and this alone did he forcibly take horses, im- 
plements, arms and food from the slave-owners and their 
allies in Kansas and Missouri. In this battle against 
slavery in the Appalachians he expected to prey upon 
the masters for food and all other supplies necessary 
for the maintenance of this warfare and for the welfare 
of those he liberated. 

John Brown believed that the little garrisons of these 
mountain forts could resist largely superior forces, and if 
defeated that they could make their way through the path- 
less woods to another station. He expected that blood- 
hounds would be placed on his trail in these forays upon 
the plantations, but he believed they could be killed, 
and that the pursuit would not be pressed by the planters. 
He believed he might persuade the planters, or some of 
them, to assist him and cooperate with him when he had 
made slaveholding unprofitable because of the uncertainty 
of value and insecurity of property in slaves. It was his 
hope to eventually extend his provisional government over 
all the hill-country of the South, — from Harper's Ferry 
to Alabama, maintain his position, and carry this guerrilla 
warfare successfully forward until the abolition of slavery 
should be accomplished. 

The original plans of Brown did not contemplate such 
attacks as he afterwards made upon Harper's Ferry. 



22S 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



While the movement was to be inaugurated at that point, 
the attack upon the town and capture of the Federal prop- 
erty there were perhaps not included in the original de- 
sign. The forts were to be established in the peaks and 
crags and the warfare commenced by silent and swift 
movements and sudden retreats similar to his forays into 
Missouri. The mystery surrounding his movements, the 
uncertainty of the extent of the conspiracy, the sudden 
and unexpected development and appearance of it, and 
the number engaged in it, would have been mighty factors 
in its favor. While it is certain that he never could have 
succeeded as he hoped, he might have accomplished much. 
The value of the Appalachians for such purposes was 
recognized by General Washington, who declared that if 
he was defeated on the Atlantic seaboard he would retire 
to these mountains and continue the war. Brown's deter- 
mination to attack Harper's Ferry was an error, but this 
action led ultimately to the accomplishment of all he had 
hoped for, although in a very different way from what he 
expected. It was the inauguration of a new and different 
manner of fighting slavery. It so widened the breach 
that compromise was impossible — really the first great 
practical step in the battle for emancipation. It is prob- 
able that an examination of the highlands in the imme- 
diate vicinity revealed no sites for forts to his liking. 
It was September before he spoke to his men of any 
modification of his plans, and first to his son Owen. But 
Frederick Douglass visited him at Chambersburg in Au- 
gust, at his request. Brown made known to him his 
change of purpose and his intention to attack the town 
of Harper's Ferry as the opening or initial blow of his 



joim Btjowisr 



229 



campaign against slavery in its own country. Douglass 
tried to dissuade him, but in vain. Brown urged Douglass 
to join him in the campaign, but Douglass declined to 
take any part in it. All of Browm's men opposed the new 
order, and so much was urged against it that John Brown 
resigned as Commander-in-chief, though he was immedi- 
ately reelected. From that time, opposition to the attack 
upon the town and the seizure of the Federal property 
ceased, and the new plan was acquiesced in. 

The Government received warning of the intended in- 
vasion of Virginia for the purpose of creating insurrec- 
tion among the slaves about the 25th of August, but it 
seems that little attention was given this communication 
conveying the information, as it was anonymous. And 
the country had some intimation of what might shortly 
take place, but neither the Government nor the public 
comprehended these warnings nor heeded them in the 
least. And when the blow descended, the country was 
as much surprised as if nothing had been publicly said 
of an insurrection. 

The little band at the Kennedy farm grew slowly. Ad- 
ditions arrived singly, or by twos and threes. Oliver 
Brown's wife and Anne, the daughter of John Brown, 
were brought from North Elba to prevent suspicion, which 
might (and did) arise at sight of so many strange men on 
the farm. The women were to keep watch, and warn of 
danger. The men remained in the upper story of the large 
house during the day, where they drilled and studied the 
science of war. Sometimes they read, but time went 
heavily with them by day ; at night they descended from 
their loft to walk about the fields and over the hills. 



230 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

Sometimes the girls gathered autumn wild-flowers and 
made nosegays, which they sent aloft to cheer the weary 
hours of the grim and waiting warriors. When at the 
farm John Brown went to church, and held converse with 
his neighbors when he saw them, lie spent much time 
on the road to and from Chamhersburg. He was often at 
Harper's Ferry, and soon gained a perfect knowledge of 
the surrounding country. He even visited the armory 
and gun-factory. 

The men composing John Brown's army of invasion 
were from various places. A brief sketch of them must 
here suffice. 

1. John Brown, Commander-in-chief. 

2. Watson Brown, Captain. Son of John Brown. 

3. Oliver Brown, Captain. Son of John Brown. 

4. Owen Brown, Captain and Treasurer. Son of 
John Brown. 

5. William Thompson. Son of Boswell Thompson; 
born in New Hampshire, in August, 1833. Married in 
the fall of 1858 to Mary Brown, who was not related to 
the family of John Brown. His sister Isabel was mar- 
ried to Watson Brown; and Henry Thompson, his elder 
brother, was married to Ruth, the daughter of John 
Brown. 

G. Dauphin Thompson. Brother of William Thomp- 
son. Lieutenant. Was born April 17, 1838. He was 
"very quiet, with fair, thoughtful face, curly blonde hair, 
and baby-blue eyes." Slain at Harper's Ferry. 

7. John Henry Kagi. Born March 15, 1835, in Bris- 
tol, Trumbull county, Ohio. His father had come from 
the Shenandoah Valley, in Virginia, to Ohio. He was 



JOHN BROWN 



231 



cold in manner, rather coarse of fiber and rough in ap- 
pearance, an agnostic, and mentally the ablest man in 
John Brown's army. Was very brave and determined. 
Was a lawyer. When he was young his father went to 
California, but returned and settled on Camp creek in 
Otoe county, Nebraska. Came to Kansas in 1856, arriv- 
ing at Topeka July 4th, where he witnessed the dispersal 
of the Legislature by Colonel Sumner. Immediately 
identified himself with the Free-State forces, and became 
one of John Brown's most devoted followers. Bore the 
title of Secretary of War in the provisional government; 
next in command to John Brown; was adjutant. Slain 
at Harper's Ferry. 

8. Aaron Dwight Stevens. Born in Lisbon, New 
London county, Connecticut, March 15, 1831. His great- 
grandfather, Moses Stevens, was an officer in the war of 
the Revolution, and his grandfather was a soldier in 
the War of 1812. Served through the Mexican War, 
and was honorably discharged. In 1851 he enlisted 
in the regular army, joining the regiment of dragoons 
commanded by Colonel Sumner, and served in the capa- 
city of bugler; in this service he was in Wyoming, Colo- 
rado, Kansas, Nebraska, and New Mexico. Struck an 
officer for brutally punishing a comrade; was court- 
martialed and ordered to be shot, but his sentence was 
commuted to three years' imprisonment at hard labor. 
Escaped, and concealed himself in the Delaware Reserve, 
from whence he came to Topeka early in 1856. He gave 
his name as "Charles Whipple," and served in the Free- 
State forces as Captain, where he was known as Captain 
Whipple. Met John Brown August 7, 1856, at the Ne- 



232 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

braska line, when Lane's Army of the North marched into 
Kansas. Became one of Brown's bravest and most devoted 
followers. He was an ideal soldier, six feet and three 
inches high, finely formed, of impressive appearance, very 
intelligent, and brave as a lion. Unmarried. Captured, 
and executed in the following March. 

9. John E. Cook. Born in Haddam, Connecticut, in 
1830. Of an old Puritan family which was quite wealthy. 
Five feet and seven inches in height, handsome, quick in 
movement, an incessant talker, blue-eyed, and had curly 
blonde hair. A devoted follower of Brown, though con- 
sidered indiscreet. Was the one man who believed that 
it was best to attack the town of Harper's Ferry. Was 
sent to that town in advance of others, and lived in the 
city. Passed much of his time in gathering information 
about slaves, and perhaps in communication with them, 
although this is denied by the family of Brown. It is 
reasonable to believe that he had found that the slaves 
would not rise at the first appearance of Brown, though 
he believed they would flock to the standard when the blow 
had been struck. Was married, and had wife and one 
child in Harper's Ferry up to within a month of the 
attack. One of his sisters married a Mr. Willard, who 
was, in 1859, Governor of Indiana. Cook escaped from 
Harper's Ferry, but was captured at Chambersburg, re- 
turned to Virginia, tried and convicted, made a confession, 
and was hanged. 

10. Charles Plummee Tidd. Captain. Born in Pa- 
lermo, Waldo county, Maine, in 1832. Five feet nine 
inches high, strong and broad-shouldered. Dark eyes and 
beard, and black hair. Was sharp in retort, and over- 



JOHN BROWN 233 

bearing. Came to Kansas in 1856. Was turned aside 
by the blockade of the Missouri river, and came into the 
Territory through Iowa and Nebraska. Met John Brown 
and his sons, Owen and Oliver, at Tabor, Iowa. Was ever 
after a faithful follower of Brown, and was fully trusted 
by him. He and Cook were particularly warm friends. 
Opposed the attack on Harper's Ferry. Escaped, and en- 
listed in a Massachusetts regiment, in the Civil War, 
and died in service. 

11. William H. Leeman. Lieutenant. Was born in 
Maine March 20, 1839. In 1856 he determined to go to 
Kansas, and left Massachusetts in June of that year, in 
the party led by Dr. Cutter. Was turned back by the 
Missouri blockade, and found his way to Kansas through 
Iowa. Joined John Brown's Kegulars, September 9, 
1856, and was thereafter one of his trusted followers. 
Was in the Springdale (Iowa) school of instruction. 
Slain at Harper's Ferry. 

12. Barclay Coppoc. Born in Salem, Ohio, January 
4, 1839, of Quaker parents, who moved to Springdale, 
Iowa. Young Coppoc was in Kansas a short time in 1856. 
Drilled in the Springdale school. Although young, he 
seems to have been trusted by John Brown. Escaped 
from Harper's Ferry, and was killed in a wreck on the 
Hannibal & St. Joseph Bailroad caused by rebels, who 
sawed the bridge timbers partly off. 

13. Edwin Coppoc. Lieutenant. Born near Salem, 
Columbiana county, Ohio, June 30, 1835. Elder brother 
of Barclay Coppoc. Hung in Virginia December 16, 
1859. Was brave and generous, "honorable, loyal, and 
true." 



234 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

14. Albert Hazlett. Lieutenant. Born in Indiana 
county, Pennsylvania, September 21, 1837. Came to 
Kansas in 1857, perhaps as early as May. Located in 
Linn county, and was an ardent Free-State man. Was a 
follower of Montgomery. When John Brown appeared 
there he attached himself to the old hero's little band, and 
was one of the men who went into Missouri to liberate 
the eleven slaves. Escaped from Harper's Ferry, but 
was captured near Chambersburg, and returned to Vir- 
ginia as William Harrison; tried there, and executed on 
the 16th of March, 1860. 

15. Jeremiah G. Anderson. Lieutenant. Born in 
Putnam county, Indiana, April 17, 1833. His ancestors 
were officers in the War of the Revolution, and were Vir- 
ginians and slaveholders ; they removed to Kentucky, and 
from there to Wisconsin, and finally to Indiana. Ander- 
son came to Kansas in the fall of 1857, and purchased a 
claim on the Little Osage. He was a strong Free-State 
man, and bore his part in the troubles in southeastern 
Kansas. Killed at Harper's Ferry by a bayonet-thrust 
of one of the marines. "One of the prisoners described 
Anderson as turning completely over against the wall [to 
which he was pinned by the bayonet] in his dying agony. 
He lived a short time, stretched on the brick walk without, 
where he was subjected to savage brutalities, being kicked 
in body and face, while one brute of an armed farmer spat 
a huge quid of tobacco from his vile jaws into the mouth 
of the dying man, which he first forced open." 

16. Francis Jackson Merriam. Born November 17, 
1837, in Framingham, Massachusetts. His family had 
been for a previous generation opposed to slavery. Mer- 



JOHN BROWN 



235 



riam came to Kansas, but seems to have borne little part 
in the struggle here, as he did not arrive before 1858. 
Was ardent in his desire to tight slavery, and solicited 
service under John Brown. Was educated; had some 
money. Escaped from Harper's Ferry after the attack; 
afterwards settled in Illinois, and enlisted in the Union 
army. Died November 28, 1865. 

17. Steward Taylor. Born in Uxbridge, in the prov- 
ince of Ontario, Canada, October 29, 1836. Left his home 
to go to Kansas, in his youth, but was seriously ill for 
some time in Missouri. After he recovered he visited Ar- 
kansas, and finally went to Iowa. Here he worked in a 
wagon factory, and became acquainted with George B. 
Gill, Esq., who introduced him to John Brown. Erom 
Iowa he went to Chatham, Canada, where he attended 
the convention which adopted the provisional constitution. 
After this he was one of John Brown's most ardent fol- 
lowers. Killed at Harper's Ferry. 

18. Shields Green. Fugitive slave from Charleston, 
S. C. Joined Brown at Chambersburg, having come there 
with Frederick Douglass, August 19th ; was known as the 
" Emperor," but how he obtained this name is not now 
known. Was very brave. Captured with John Brown, 
and executed December 16, 1859. 

19. Dangekeield JSTewby. Free negro, married to a 
slave woman living some thirty miles from Harper's 
Ferry. Became acquainted with Brown in Canada. Was 
killed at Harper's Ferry. His wife was immediately 
sold to a dealer in Louisiana, and was living there some 
years since. 

20. John A. Copeland. Free nearo: lived at Ober- 



236 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

lin, Ohio. Seems to have been induced by friends there 
to join Brown, and was given money to pay his expenses 
to Chambersburg. Was captured, and executed on the 
16th of December, 1859. 

21. Lewis Sherrard Leary. Free negro; married, 
and lived in Oberlin, Ohio. Said to have been the first 
Oberlin recruit to Brown's army. Was furnished money 
to go from Oberlin to Chambersburg, and accompanied 
John A. Copeland to that town. Was killed at Harper's 
Ferry. 

22. John Anderson. A free negro from Boston. 
Killed at Harper's Ferry. Nothing definite is known of 
this man. There is a question as to who he was, where 
he came from, — even that there was such a man in 
Brown's company. 

23. Osborn P. Anderson. Negro; born free, in Penn- 
sylvania. Was a printer, and was working in Chatham, 
Canada, at his trade, when he met John Brown. Became 
one of his most devoted followers. Was a man of some 
ability, and of undoubted courage. Fought bravely at 
Harper's Ferry, and escaped. Afterwards he wrote an 
interesting account of the foray into Virginia, entitled 
"A Voice from Harper's Ferry." It is one of the most 
reliable and valuable accounts prepared of that invasion. 
Anderson enlisted in the Union army, and fought through 
the Civil War; he died in Washington City in 1871. 

Others had been expected; they did not arrive in time 
to take part in the attack. Some of the men afterwards 
said the assault was made some days before the time first 
fixed for it, and this prevented the assembling of the 
full force. John Brown, jr., wrote on the 8th of Septem- 



JOHN BROWN * oi 



ber: "From what I even bad understood, I had sup- 
posed you would not tHnh it best to commence opening the 
coal-banks before spring, unless circumstances should make 
it imperative." It is very probable that the attack was 
hastened by some information which made Brown believe 
that to delay was to be fatal to his enterprise. Francis 
Jackson Merriam was the last accession to Browns army 
to arrive at the Kennedy farm. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE SEIZURE OF HARPER'S FERRY. 



Our hearts are as nothing — our gashes and scars 

Are worn without boastings and shammings: 
What have men who have climbed to the steeps of the stars 

To do with Earth's vauntings and claimings? 
But the Altars of Righteousness reared on the mounds 

Where our canonized heroes lie sleeping — 
Not a stone must be touched while the sun swings his rounds, 

And our sabers are still in our keeping! 

— Richard Realf. 

The lGth of October, 1859, was Sunday. The day Avas 
cloudy and lowering, and the night brought darkness, cold, 
and finally rain. John Brown had returned from Phila- 
delphia during the previous Friday night. On Sunday 
morning "he arose earlier than usual, and called his men 
to worship." The day was a busy one. The men were 
assembled in council at ten o'clock, and for some time 
their enterprise was discussed. The constitution was 
read by Stevens, and those who had not done so before 
were sworn by Brown to support it and the new govern- 
ment they were about to undertake battle to establish. 
Commissions were given those officers who had not before 
received them. During the afternoon Brown formulated 
and published eleven orders for the present government of 
the men in their coming attack. It was a serious, solemn 
day, and each man realized that grave work lay ready to 

(238; 



JOHN BROWN 239 

his hand, the result of which would be fraught with mo- 
mentous consequences to himself and others. John Brown 
had looked for this day and prayed for its coining for a 
quarter of a century. What it had for him he did not 
know; he was conscious of his own rectitude; and he held 
high and noble purposes, — for the result he was willing 
to trust God. 

At eight o'clock the men were ordered to arm them- 
selves, and were told that they were to proceed to the 
Ferry. Only twenty of the twenty-three went, for by the 
first of the eleven orders Owen Brown, F. J. Merriam and 
Barclay Coppoc were left at the farm to guard the arms 
until they could be removed to the school-house within 
two miles of the Ferry and on the Maryland side of the 
Potomac. The wagon was driven to the door, and some 
pikes, a sledge-hammer and a crowbar were placed in it. 
Then Brown "put on his old Kansas cap," and climbed 
into the wagon ; after which he said to the men, who were 
ranked in marching order, "Come, boys." He led the 
way to the main road, driving down the rugged path, the 
old wagon rattling over the road-worn stones, making a 
noise which sounded loud and harsh to the men, now 
wrought to high nerve-tension. The men marched in 
couples, each couple a given distance in the rear of that 
in advance, John E. Cook and Charles P. Tidd leading 
the column. It was the order that anyone met in the 
highway should be held until the column had passed on 
or the men had concealed themselves until the wayfarer 
could be conducted away from the line of march. If they 
were overtaken by a traveler the orders were the same. 
The lonely road, shut out from the dull light of the over- 



240 TWENTIETH CENTUEY CLASSICS 

cast sky by the somber branches of beech and oak draped 
in autumn mists, proved to be solitary and unfrequented 
by nocturnal wanderers. The men were unmolested and 
undiscovered, and they marched in melancholy silence 
down to the bridge over the Potomac at Harper's Ferry. 
Harper's Ferry is built in the fork of the Potomac and 
Shenandoah rivers. The manufacturing portion of the 
town is along the river-banks. Here are two streets, one 
leading up each river. Back of these river streets the 
land rises abruptly to a considerable height, and forms a 
sort of uneven plateau, upon a part of which the residence 
portion of the town is situated. This plateau increases 
in height as it recedes from the junction of the rivers. 
At some points its sides are perpendicular, or even over- 
hanging, and a short distance up the rivers it rises to many 
times the height of the tallest buildings along the water's 
edge. The whole country bears the aspect of bold rugged- 
nesSj and the swift waters of the troubled rivers tumbling 
over stony and broken beds swirl together fiercely and 
lend a sense of savageness to the general visage of nature 
there. The bridge runs from the point between the rivers, 
with a down-stream diagonal course to the Maryland side. 
There was a bridge across the Shenandoah, from the 
town to the bluffs on the opposite side. The armory was 
near the Virginia terminal of this bridge, with the rail- 
road between it and the Potomac river. The arsenal was 
a short distance up the Potomac, immediately on its bank, 
and between the railroad and the river. The rifle-works 
were on an island in the Shenandoah river, something 
like a half-mile from its junction with the Potomac, and 
that distance from the other Federal buildings. The 



JOHN BROWN 



241 



engine-house was a part of the arsenal and armory, al- 
though a little distance up the Potomac. The arsenal yard 
extended to the Shenandoah. There seems to have been 
a musket-factory something more than a quarter of a mile 
up the Potomac. 

It was the duty of John E. Cook and Charles P. Tidd 
to tear down or cut the telegraph wires on the Maryland 
side of the Potomac during the night, and to do the same 
on the Virginia side when the town was captured. When 
for this purpose they left the ranks of the advancing army, 
Kagi and Stevens remained in advance. These secured 
the watchman at the bridge, and when the little band en- 
tered this thoroughfare, covered and inclosed like a house, 
they strapped their cartridge-boxes outside their coats and 
unmasked their Sharps' rifles, which until now they had 
concealed. Watson Brown and Steward Taylor were di- 
rected to guard the bridge and hold it until morning, and 
until they were relieved. Brown then drove his wagon to 
the gate of the armory; he was accompanied by his four- 
teen remaining men, and they arrived at the armory gate 
about half-past ten o'clock. They forced the armory gate 
with a crowbar, ran into the building, and secured one of 
the watchmen there. Brown sent Kagi and Copeland to 
capture the rifle-works. They were successful, and cap- 
tured the watchmen at that place; they sent these to 
Brown, at the armory. The captured watchmen and 
bridge-guard were guarded by Jeremiah G. Anderson and 
1 Lie younger Thompson. Brown himself mounted guard 
at the armory gate, assisted by two men. Hazlett took 
possession of that part of the armory known as the arsenal. 
By one o'clock of Monday morning, the 17th, Brown had 



—16 



242 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

complete possession of Harper's Ferry and all the arms 
of the Federal Government then at that place; this was 
accomplished without firing a gun or shedding blood. 
He then sent Stevens, Cook, and four others up the turn- 
pike towards Charlestown, to bring in Colonel Lewis W. 
Washington and his slaves. As they started upon this 
errand the night mail train on the Baltimore & Ohio Rail- 
road came down the Potomac on its way from Wheeling 
to Baltimore. This train was stopped at the bridge by 
Watson Brown and Steward Taylor. This was the cause 
of the first bloodshed. The train porter, a free negro 
named Hayward, who lived at Harper's Ferry, went out 
to ascertain the cause of the arrest of the train and to 
search for the bridge-guard. When he appeared on the 
bridge he was halted by Brown's men, and instead of com- 
plying with this order he turned and fled. He was fired 
upon by Brown and Taylor, one shot striking him in the 
back; from the effect of this wound he died in a few 
hours. The train was detained until morning dawned. 
This was the first mistaken move of Brown at Harper's 
Ferry ; no wires should have been cut until this train was 
well out of the town toward Baltimore, and it should have 
been allowed to pass without any knowledge of Brown's 
presence at Harper's Ferry. 

In the gray light of the dull morning, which broke chill 
and damp, the expedition sent up the Potomac arrived 
with Colonel Washington and other slave-owners, and witii 
the Colonel's large four-horse wagon. The Cavalier was 
met and welcomed by the stern old Puritan who had sent 
for him. " You will find a fire in here, sir; it is rather 
cool this morning," was his greeting. The slaves brought 



JOHN BROWN 243 



in were armed with pikes, but seem to have done little to 
aid Brown. Some of them may have remained with him 
for a short time, but they evidently escaped as soon as 
possible. This was the first real disappointment of Brown. 
The slave-owners were added to the prisoners already held ; 
and the wagon in which they arrived was immediately 
dispatched to the Kennedy farm to remove the arms re- 
maining there to the school-house, two miles from the 
town, to be from there distributed to the slaves, who it 
was hoped would come in numbers to the aid of Brown as 
soon as they heard of the presence of the invaders. 

As the morning advanced the people began to move 
about the streets in pursuit of their "daily vocations. As 
they appeared they were captured and taken to the ar- 
mory ; by ten o'clock these prisoners numbered some sixty. 
Many of them were workmen who came down to their 
daily toil in the armory and rifle-works. One was a bar- 
tender in a near-by hotel. Brown exchanged this man for 
breakfast for his men and prisoners. 

The train carried the news of an insurrection at Har- 
per's Ferry, and the startling intelligence that the town 
was in the hands of the rebels. From a military point 
of view Brown blundered constantly after he gained pos- 
session of the armory and town. The first mistake was 
the capture of the train; the second was to allow it to 
proceed. Brown said he did this to relieve the anxiety 
of passengers on the train and their relatives, as well as 
those of the men in charge of the train. To have made 
any sort of success Brown should have destroyed the Fed- 
eral buildings and arms, as well as the railroad and other 
bridges, and then have fled to the mountains. If he had 



244 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

done this, his blow would have been surrounded with such 
mystery and followed by such destruction that, for a time, 
rumor, magnifying a thousand-fold his forces, pursuit 
would have been paralyzed. He could have escaped, and 
from his view the expedition would have been something 
of a success. His plans contemplated a quick abandon- 
ment of the town, and he was urged by Kagi, Stevens and 
others to comply with this understanding and agreement. 
Why he delayed to do so he did not himself know. He 
gave as his reason that he "wanted to allay the fears of 
those who believed we came here to burn and kill." "For 
this reason," he said, " I allowed the train to cross the 
bridge, and gave them full liberty to pass on. I did it 
only to spare the feelings of those passengers and their 
families, and to allay the apprehensions that you had got 
here in your vicinity a band of men who had no regard 
for life and property, nor any feelings of humanity." 
The real cause of his delay was the failure of the slaves to 
flock to his standard. He strained his eyes in vain for 
the sight of crowds of them flocking over the hills and 
along the valleys to take up arms for themselves. He de- 
layed in waiting for them until it was too late to escape. 
Perhaps he expected no general uprising ; in fact, he says 
he did not expect or desire that; but he certainly expected 
a very considerable accession of negroes to his ranks at 
Harper's Ferry. But his expectation was not reasonable. 
The slaves were unacquainted with him; they had not 
heard of him. The negro is suspicious, and the slaves had 
been ground down for centuries ; there was no widespread 
determination to fight for freedom, perhaps no thought of 
*uch determination. The war proved that the negro was 



JOHN BKOWN 



245 



not ripe for rising ; the white man forced the issue which 
gave to the black man his freedom. 

At noon, on Monday, it was barely possible for Brown 
to have escaped; after that his fate was fixed. Troops 
beo-an to arrive. By one o'clock it was impossible for 
him to assemble his men, and it was necessary that each 
man fight from the position he then occupied; he could 
secure no other. Those in the arsenal just across the 
street from the engine-house could not join their leader; 
those on the Maryland side of the Potomac could not come 
to his assistance. By three o'clock Kagi and his compan- 
ions were forced to abandon the rifle-factory, and were all 
killed or captured. Militia and citizens were firing from 
every point of vantage. Colonel Kobert E. Lee arrived 
from Washington at the close of the day, but only the 
engine-house remained in possession of the invaders at 
that time ; this was defended by Brown and six men, two 
of whom were wounded. Hazlett and Osborn P. Ander- 
son yet remained in the arsenal, but could do nothing, and 
they finally escaped. Upon the arrival of Colonel Lee a 
flag of truce was sent to Brown, and his surrender de- 
manded. He replied "that he knew what that meant — a 
rope for his men and himself; adding, 'I prefer to die 
just here.' " This flag was carried in by Captain J. E. 
B. Stuart, who had met Brown and detained him a short 
time in Kansas. Stuart recognized him, and from this 
meeting his identity became known. Stuart returned at 
daylight the following morning, but Brown had not 
changed his mind, and still answered, " No ; I prefer to 
die here." Lee began his attack at once. The door failed 
to yield to the force of hammers, and a long ladder was 



246 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



grasped by its rungs by a file of men on each side of it; 
they battered down the door and pushed back the barri- 
cade against it. During this assault upon the door, Brown, 
seeing the hopelessness of further resistance, cried out that 
he surrendered. His assailants did not hear him, and per- 
haps their course would not have been changed if they had. 
A Lieutenant Green was the first to enter the engine- 
house, and was greeted with a shower of balls. Colonel 
Washington pointed out Brown ; he "sprang about twelve 
feet at him, giving an under-thrust of his sword, striking 
Brown about midway the body, and raising him com- 
pletely from the ground. Brown fell forward with his 
head between his knees, while Green struck him several 
times over the head, and, as I then supposed, split his 
skull at every stroke." Brown was pinned to the ground 
with bayonets, one of which passed through his left kidney, 
and he was supposed to be dead. 

"The fight was over ; the work was done. John Brown 
was a prisoner, surrounded by politicians, soldiers, re- 
porters, and vengeful spectators. His son, Owen, with 
his followers, Cook, Tidd, Barclay Coppoc, and F. J. 
Merriam, as also Albert Hazlett and O. P. Anderson, on 
their own account, were fugitives. Of these, Cook and 
Hazlett were captured, tried, and executed. Stevens, 
Edwin Coppoc, Copeland and Shields Green were hung; 
while Oliver and Watson Brown, William and Dauphin 
Thompson, John H. Kagi, William Leeman, Steward 
Taylor, Lewis S. Leary, Jeremiah G. Anderson, and Dan- 
gerfield Newby were killed in combat or as prisoners." 

John Brown had failed because he departed from his 
well-matured plans. He erred when he determined to 



JOHN" BROWN" ^*' 



abandon the plan of twenty years and make the attack. 
When the attack was made, some success might have en- 
sued had he kept to his design to abandon the town sooft 
after daylight. By a few minutes past noon all possibility 
of even escape was gone. All that could then be done was 
to fight to the end, and desperately and grimly did he 
do this. Colonel Washington bore witness to his bravery. 
Governor Wise said, "And Colonel Washington said that 
he— Brown — was the coolest man he ever saw in defying 
death and danger. With one son dead by his side, and 
another shot through, he felt the pulse of his dying son 
with one hand and held the rifle with the other, and 
commanded his men with the utmost composure, encourag- 
ing them to be firm, and to sell their lives as dearly as 
possible." When John Brown was carried out and placed 
in the yard with the dead and dying, it seemed that 
he had failed. For a day or two he may have feared so 
himself ; but this did not long continue. 

" God moves in a mysterious way, 

His wonders to perform ; 
He plants his footsteps in the sea, 

And rides upon the storm." 

He was enabled to see God's hand. "All our actions, 
even all the follies that led to this disaster, were decreed 
to happen, ages before the world was made," he said. 
When the scaffold was erected before his eyes he saw 
it erected in God's mercy and in the execution of His 
plans. He saw that the journey of his life had been di- 
rected to it by One that was mightier than he. That 
unto him it was now to be given to die a martyr for 
humanity, for his brother, for the poor, the despised, the 



2-18 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

bondman, the oppressed. Such an exceeding weight of 
glory is apportioned to few men in this world. He saw 
the scaffold baptized in the blood of brave men fighting 
by his side, and as it arose it was consecrated by the 
groans and tears of children and mothers and fathers 
wailing in a bitter thralldom. He had faithfully labored 
in the vineyard of his Master, and now his reward was 
come, and a greater reward than has fallen to many other 
men. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

TRIAL OF CAPTAIN JOHN BROWN. 



Portia. Why, this bond is forfeit; 

And lawfully by this the Jew may claim 
A pound of flesh, to be by him cut off 
Nearest the merchant's heart.— Be merciful: 
Take thrice thy money; bid me tear the bond. 

Shylock. When it is paid according to the tenour.— 
It doth appear you are a worthy judge; 
You know the law; your exposition 
Hath been most sound: I charge you by the law, 
Whereof you are a well-deserving pillar, 
Proceed to judgment. By my soul I swear, 
There is no power in the tongue of man 
To alter me. I stay here on my bond. 

Antonio. Most heartily do I beseech the court 
To give the judgment. 

Portia. Why then, thus it is: 

You must prepare your bosom for his knife. 

Shylock. noble judge! O excellent young man! 

Portia. For the intent and purpose of the law 
Hath full relation to the penalty 
Which here appeareth due upon the bond. 

Shylock. "lis very true. O wise and upright judge! 
How much more elder art thou than thy looks! 

Portia. Therefore lay bare your bosom. 

Shylock. A ?> M3 breast 5 

So says the bond— doth it not, noble judge?— 
Nearest his heart; those are the very words. 

Portia. You, merchant, have you anything to say? 
Antonio. But little; I am arm'd and well prepar'd — 
— Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice. 
(249) 



250 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



John Brown was immediately closely questioned. No 
mistake can be charged to him after his capture. His 
mind cleared at once; his duty to humanity and himself 
stood out distinct and clearly denned. Doubts and hesi- 
tation fled. His statements and avowals were frank, very 
full, and very ingenious. Iso man ever said more pre- 
cisely what he intended to say than did John Brown to 
his inquisitors in Virginia. Interrogators were numerous 
and of all ranks, and they came at all times, both by night 
and by day. Governor Wise, shortsighted, and with no 
understanding at all of what this foray meant, stood in 
the presence of one of the heroes of the ages with mind 
now cleared by the revelation of God's purpose, and re- 
ceived plain and simple statements which it took four 
years of war to make him understand. Vallandigham, 
the pusillanimous, slimy, cringing demagogue and malig- 
nant blatherskite, the Ohio doughface, hurried to Har- 
per's Ferry, broke in abruptly upon the wounded man, 
interrupted the Southern inquisitors, bullied the old hero 
for a short time, and retired in discomfiture but with the 
hope that his zeal for the slave-owners had been noted, 
and that he should be rewarded by them when they 
should come to distribute the offices. Having no fixed 
principles, nor the remotest concej)tion of right, honor 
and truth, he could have no comprehension of an action 
growing out of a deep conviction of justice and a desire 
to sacrifice even one's life for the benefit of humanity. 
He evidently expected guarded and reluctant replies from 
Brown, or perhaps a refusal to talk. Then he could have 
said to the Virginians, " Here is a great mystery. The 
people of the North, and especially of Ohio, are implicated 



JOHN BROWN * ox 

without exception other than the Democratic party. I 
join hands with you in meting out political punishment." 
But nothing was concealed. Brown was anxious to talk 
anxious to have his intentions fully known. Strange 
man! — incomprehensible! The more he explained his 
intentions the more did he befog the mediocres and the 
doughface. 

In the long interview he was literally weltering in his 
blood. His wounds had not been dressed, and he believed 
himself near death by reason of them. But he was cour- 
teous, aifable, kind, explicit, sublime. 

A bystander. Do you consider this a religious move- 
ment \ 

Brown. It is, in my opinion, the greatest service man 
can render to God. 

Bystander. Do you consider yourself an instrument in 
the hands of Providence ? 

Brown. I do. 

Bystander. Upon what principle do you justify your 

acts. 

Brown. Upon the Golden Rule. I pity the poor in 
bondage that have none to help them : that is why I am 
here; not to gratify any personal animosity, revenge, or 
vindictive spirit. It is my sympathy with the oppressed 
and the wronged, that are as good as you, and as precious 
in the sight of God. ... I want you to understand 
that I respect the rights of the poorest and weakest of the 
colored people, oppressed by the slave system, just as much 
as I do the most wealthy and powerful. That is the idea 
that has moved me, and that alone. We expected no reward 
except the satisfaction of endeavoring to do for those in 
distress — the greatly oppressed — as we would be done by. 
The cry of distress, of the oppressed, is my reason, and the 
only thing that prompted me to come here. 



252 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



"Never before, in the United States, did a recorded con- 
versation produce so sudden and universal a change of 
opinion. Before its publication, some, who subsequently 
eulogized John Brown with fervor and surpassing elo- 
quence, as well as the great body of the press and people 
who knew not the man, lamented that he should have gone 
insane, — never doubting that he was a maniac; while, 
after it, from every corner of the land came words of won- 
der, of praise rising to worship, and of gratitude mingled 
with sincerest prayers for the noble old hero. Enemies 
and friends were equally amazed at the carriage and say- 
ings of the wounded warrior. 'During his conversation,' 
wrote a Southern pro-slavery reporter to a Southern pro- 
slavery paper, 'no signs of weakness were exhibited. In 
the midst of enemies whose home he had invaded ; wound- 
ed and a prisoner ; surrounded by a small army of officials 
and a more desperate army of angry men ; with the gallows 
staring him full in the face, Brown lay on the floor, and, 
in reply to every question, gave answers that betokened the 
spirit that animated him. The language of Governor Wise 
well expresses his boldness when he said : "He is the gam- 
est man I ever saw." I believe the worthy Executive had 
hardly expected to see a man so act in such a trying mo- 
ment.' " 

" 'Such a word as insane? said an eloquent speaker, un- 
consciously uttering the opinion of the people of the North, 
'is a mere trope with those who persist in using it; and I 
have no doubt that many of them, in silence, have already 
retracted their words. Read his admirable answers to 
Mason and others. How they are dwarfed and defeated by 
the contrast! On the one side, half -brutish, half -timid 
questioning ; on the other, -Truth, clear as lightning, crash- 
ing into their obscure temples. They are made to stand as 
Pilate or Gessler and the Inquisition. Probably all the 
speeches of all the men whom Massachusetts has sent to 



JOHN BROWN 



253 



Congress for the last few years do not match, for manly di- 
rectness and force, and for simple truth, the few casual re- 
marks of John Brown on the floor of the Harper's Ferry 
engine-house, — that man whom you are about to send to 
the other world ; though not to represent you there. He 
is too fair a specimen of a man to represent the like of us. 
"Who, then, were his constituents ? Read his words under- 
standingly, and you will find out. In his case there is no 
idle eloquence. Truth is the inspirer and earnestness the 
polisher of his sentences. He could afford the loss of his 
Sharps' rifle while he retained the faculty of speech — a 
rifle of far straighter sight and longer range." 

Some people profess to believe that John Brown was 
insane. There is no evidence anywhere that he was insane 
or mentally deranged. Replying to this imputation, he 
himself said : "I may be very insane ; and I am so, if insane 
at all. But if that be so, insanity is like a very pleasant 
dream to me. I am not in the least degree conscious of my 
ravings, of my fears, or of any terrible visions whatever; 
but fancy myself entirely composed, and that my sleep, in 
particular, is as sweet as that of a healthy, joyous little 
infant." One of the most eloquent men ever in Kansas 
public life says : "All men who rise to the height of purest 
patriotism and absolute unselfishness, who are ready to die 
for their principles, have been charged in their day and 
age as impractical, and mentally unbalanced. This is said 
of Luther, Melanchthon, and Columbus, and inventors like 
Fulton, Morse, Howe, and even of our own Edison. It is 
the explanation mediocrity offers for greatness." 

John Brown and his men were captured on the property 
of the United States, by the United States marines, but 



254 



TWENTIETH. CENTURY CLASSICS 



they were left to be dealt with by the State of Virginia. 
On the 19th of October, Brown, Stevens, Coppoc and 
Shields Green were conveyed to Charlestown, the county 
seat of Jefferson county, Virginia, (now in West Virginia. ) 
The formal committal occurred on the 20th. upon charges 
sworn to by Governor Wise and two other witnesses, ac- 
cusing them of "feloniously conspiring with each other; 
and ether persons unknown, to make an abolition insurrec- 
tion and open war against the ( Jommonwealth of Virginia." 
A writ was issued to the sheriff, commanding him to sum- 
mon and convene a preliminary court of examination on 
the 25th. At half-past ten o'clock on that day the court 
mbled. It consisted of eight persons, — justices of the 
peace, — and was presided over by a Colonel Davenport. 
The prisoners were brought in, •'presenting a pitiable sight. 
Brown and Stevens being unable to stand without assist- 
ance." Brown's eyes wore almost closed from the inflam- 
mation caused by his wounds : his hearing was so impaired 
that he could hear but indistinctly, and was unable to 
gather the words or even the import of his judges or his 
counsel. The only man with a comprehension of what was 
taking place in that Virginia court was John Brown, lie 
was not deceived with promises of a fair trial. He said — 
"Virginians: I did not ask for quarter at the time I was 
taken. I did not ask to have my life spared. The Governor 
of the State of Virginia tendered me his assurance that 
T should have a fair trial ; but tinder no circumstances 
whatever will I be able to attend to my trial. If von seek 
my blood, you can have it at any moment without this 
mockery of a trial. . . If we are to be forced with a mere 
form, — a trial for execution, — you might spare yourselves 



JOHN" BKOWX 



255 



that trouble. I am ready for my fate. I do not ask a trial. 
I beg for no mockery of a trial — no insult — nothing but 
that which conscience gives or cowardice would drive you to 
practice. I ask again to be excused from the mockery of a 
trial. I do not know what the special design of this ex- 
amination is. I do not know what is to be the benefit of it 
to the Commonwealth. I have now little further to ask, 
other than that I may be not foolishly insulted, only as 
cowardly barbarians insult those who fall into their 
power." He did not ask that his fate be different from 
what he knew it must. His only concern was that his 
obj< cts and intentions should be clearly and truthfully 
shown. 

The court presented an indictment against Brown, con- 
taining three counts, as follows: 

Conspiracy with slaves for the purpose of insurrection ; 

Treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia ; and 

Murder in the first degree. 

The trial was set for the following day, October 26th. 
The attorney for the Commonwealth charged that he was 
feigning sickness, to obtain delay and gain time. On the 
report of the jail surgeon that he could endure the ordeal, 
the trial was ordered to proceed. The court assigned him 
counsel, two resident members of the bar. The Xorth sent 
counsel for Brown, but no expectation of fairness was 
entertained by him, and his attorneys had no hope of 
accomplishing anything in his favor. He took little inter- 
est in the matter, but lay on his pallet with his eyes closed 
most of the time. When his attorneys thought to benefit 
his case by filing a plea of insanity in his behalf, he 
"raised himself up in bed" and repelled it with scorn and 



256 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

indignation. John Brown was one of the sanest men that 
ever lived. He said : "I will add, if the court will allow 
me, that I look upon it as a miserable artifice and pretext 
of those who ought to take a different course in regard to 
me, if they took any at all, and I view it with contempt 
more than otherwise. i\s I remarked to Mr. Green, insane 
prisoners, so far as my experience goes, have but little 
ability to judge of their own sanity; and if insane, of 
course I should think I knew more than all the rest of the 
world. But I do not think so. I am perfectly unconscious 
of insanity, and I reject, so far as I am capable, any at- 
tempts to interfere in my behalf on that score." 

When the Commonwealth had closed, Brown asked a 
short delay, and this was refused. Thereupon his Virginia* 
counsel deserted him. Attorneys from the North arrived, 
and assumed control of the defense. But no one expected 
that anything would come of efforts to get him justice. 
The cause was given to the jury late in the afternoon of 
Monday, October 31st, and after an hour's deliberation 
a verdict was returned of guilty as charged in the indict- 
ment. 

John Brown said not a word. 

On the second day of November he was brought into 
court to hear his sentence. "He still walked with difficulty, 
every step being attended with evident pain. His features 
were firm and composed, but within the dimly lighted court 
room, showed wan and pallid. He seated himself near 
his counsel, and resting his head upon his hand, remained 
motionless, apparently the most unheeding man in the 
room. He sat upright with lips compressed, looking direct 
into the chilled stern face of the judge as he overruled the 



JOITX BROWN 



257 



exceptions of counsel. When directed by the clerk to 
say 'why sentence should not be passed upon him,' John 
Brown rose slowly to his feet, placing his hands on the table 
in front of him, and leaning slightly forward, in a voice 
singularly quiet and self-controlled, with tones of marked 
gentleness and a manner slow and slightly hesitating, made 
this memorable speech." 

"I have, may it please the court, a few words to say : In 
the first place, I deny everything but what. I have all along 
admitted, — the design on my part to free the slaves. I 
intended certainly to have made a clean thing of that mat- 
ter, as I did last winter, when I went into .Missouri and 
took slaves without the snapping of a gun on either side, 
moved them through the country, and finally left them in 
( !anada. I designed to have done the same thing again, 
on a larger scale. That was all I intended. I never did 
intend murder, or treason, or the destruction of property, 
or to excite or incite slaves to rebellion, or to make insur- 
rection. 

"I have another objection : and that is, it is unjust that 
I should suffer such a penalty. Had I interfered in the 
manner which I admit, and which I admit has been fairly 
proved (for I admire the truthfulness and candor of the 
greater portion of the witnesses who have testified in this 
case), had I so interfered in behalf of the rich, the power- 
ful, the intelligent, the so-called great, or in behalf of any 
of their friends, — either father, mother, brother, sister,* 
wife, or children, or any of that class, — and suffered and 
sacrificed what I have in this interference, it would have 
been all right; and every man in this court would have 
deemed it an act worthy of reward rather than punish- 
ment. 

•'This court acknowledges, as I suppose, the validity of 
the law of God. I see a book kissed here which I suppose Is 

—17 



258 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

the Bible, or at least the New Testament. That teaches me 
that all things whatsoever I would that men should do 
to me, I should do even so to them. It teaches me further, 
to 'remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them.' 
I endeavored to act up to that instruction. I say, I am yet 
too young to understand that God is any respecter of per- 
sons. I believe that to have interfered as I have done — as 1 
have always freely admitted I have done — in behalf of His 
despised poor, was not wrong, but right. Now, if it is 
deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the fur- 
therance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood fur- 
ther with the blood of my children and with the blood of 
millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded 
by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, — I submit; so 
let it be done. 

a Let me say one word further. 

"I feel entirely satisfied with the treatment I have re- 
ceived on my trial. Considering all the circumstances, it 
has been more generous than I expected. But I feel no 
consciousness of guilt. I have stated from the first what 
was my intention, and what was not. I never had any de- 
sign against the life of any person, nor any disposition to 
commit treason, or excite slaves to rebel, or make any 
general insurrection. I never encouraged any man to do 
so, but always discouraged any idea of the kind. 

"Let me say, also, a word in regard to the statements 
made by some of those connected with me. I hear it has 
been stated by some of them that I have induced them to 
join me. But the contrary is true. I do not say this to 
injure them, but as regarding their weakness. There is not 
one of them but joined me of his own accord, and tin- 
greater part of them at their own expense. A number of 
them I never saw, and never had a word of conversation 
with, till the day they came to me ; and that was for the 
purpose I have stated. 
"Now I have done ! " 



CHAPTEE XIV. 

COURT TO SCAFFOLD. 



I cannot remember a night so dark as to have hindered the com- 
ing day. nor a storm so furious or dreadful as to prevent the return 
of warm sunshine and a cloudless sky. But, beloved ones, do re- 
member that this is not your rest, — that in this world you have no 
abiding-place or continuing city. 

— John Brown, to his Wife and Children. 

So far as can now be determined, it is believed that 
John Brown was well pleased to have his trial ended. He 
expected no different result. There was no disappointment 
in the verdict for John Brown. He knew from the first 
that surrender or capture meant "a rope for his men and 
himself," and for that reason he preferred to die with gun 
in hand. It was impossible for Virginia to have done 
differently with John Brown. The old hero knew this. 
While he seems to have made no distinction between the 
forays into Missouri and Virginia, they wore, in nature, 
entirely different. It was his purpose to have remained in 
Virginia or other Southern States. He attacked, captured, 
and tried to hold the town of Harper's Ferry, or portions 
of it. He was guilty of conspiracy. He invaded Virginia. 
He slew Virginians. He sent flags of truce and demeaned 
himself as a soldier, and he complained when he was not 
accorded the rights of an enemy in civilized warfare. Xo 
State can suffer the invasion of its soil by a hostile armed 

(259) 



260 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

force. Such a violation must be punished; such invasion 
suppressed. Otherwise the dignity of the State passes 
away and authority disappears. It has always been held 
that such offenses against States should be sternly and re- 
lentlessly dealt with. In this instance it was imperative 
that Virginia do promptly one of two tilings— execute 
John Brown and his companions, or free her slaves. 
There could be no evasion, no hesitation; there was no 
escape. And while the trial of Brown was unfair, it was 
as fair as he expected, and as fair as he had reason to 
except. Perhaps, after all, there was very little violence 
done the precedents of judicature in the disposition of 
political prisoners, or of persons who have assailed polit- 
ical institutions; such trials have never been in exact 
accord with law. It was not reasonable for John Brown 
to expect to escape punishment by Virginia. When he 
said surrender meant "a rope for himself and men," he 
certainly expected to pay with his life the full penalty 
which he knew Virginia would exact. Brown complained 
that his execution was to be judicial murder. This con- 
clusion must have been reached after the deep contempla- 
tion of the injustice done him by the non-observance and 
non-accord of all the legal rights he felt himself entitled 
to in his trial. But this conclusion can scarcely be con- 
curred in. Virginia's action was legally right and mor- 
ally wrong. The motto of sovereignty has always been : 

"You must not think 
That we are made of stuff so flat and dull 
That we can let our beard be shook with danger, 
And think it pastime." 

In the state of public opinion prevailing in Virginia 



JOHN BROWN 



261 



and the entire South, Virginia could not adopt abolition 
for her slaves. For a quarter of a century the popularity 
of the institution had been increasing in that portion of 
the United States where it existed, and the aggressions of 
the slave-power upon the free territory of the country 
remaining unpeopled was one of the causes of Brown's 
presence at Harper's Ferry. And while the execution of 
John Brown was thus not left to the discretion of Vir- 
ginia, the saving of the institution of slavery for the 
time being by this act only postponed the day when the 
fetters would fall from all the slaves. And this day was 
made more and more inevitable by the very act upon which 
the lease of life of the institution temporarily hung. Vir- 
ginia was compelled to hang John Brown to preserve 
slavery, but his death did more to forward universal eman- 
cipation than his life could ever have accomplished had he 
had all the successes he hoped for. And while Slavery 
legally executed John Brown, it could not escape the con- 
sequences of that act. It acted by virtue of accredited 
authority and recognized enactments, which, though ever 
so wrong in spirit, must be the rule of action for state 
and municipality until repealed. John Brown struck at 
the root of the wrong. He acted upon the eternal prin- 
ciples of justice; he brought these principles into con- 
flict — active and aggressive conflict — with an accredited 
wrong and an etfil and injustice which existed by author- 
ity. Such has been the burden borne by every reformer 
in all the ages. The task has been this — only this — 
nothing more. And it has almost invariably required the 
blood of the reformer to cause his reformation to take 
root. " Without the shedding of blood there is no re- 



262 



TWENTIETH CENTUEY CLASSICS 



mission/' Las been the law of human progress. If there 
was any one great truth, universal in its application, 
known to Brown, it was the principle contained in this 
text. So, when the scaffold rose before his eves, he saw- 
in the temporary victory of Slavery over the powers he 
had succeeded in setting against it its ultimate defeat and 
annihilation. He spent the remaining days allowed him 
in laying broad and deep the lines of this conflict, which 
he saw- was inevitable, and which it was given him to 
see would end in a triumph for justice and the principles 
he had devoted his life to forwarding, and for which he 
gladly and joyously went to the scaffold. 

"Christ saw fit to take from me the sword of steel 
alter I had carried it for a time, but He has put another 
in my hand, ('the sword of the Spirit;') and I pray God 
to make - me a faithful soldier wherever He may send 
me — nut less on the scaffold than when surrounded by 
my warmest sympathizers," he wrote to his old teacher. 
With the new weapon given him he continued to tight to 
the end. The forces of his new warfare ranged themselves 
under his command, and from the time of his arraign- 
ment until his execution he suffered no defeat, but enjoyed 
victory every hour. He had anticipated all the cost, what- 
ever occurred. In the letter above referred to he say-: 
"And before I began my work at Harper's Ferry, I felt 
assured that in the worst event it would certainly pay/' 
Thus was he enabled to go back to his dungeon in the 
spirit of a conqueror; he had looked at the gallows before 
he began his work, and the scaffold had no terrors for him. 
Idie ancient precept of the Brown family, "An old man 
should have more care to end life well than to live 



JOHN BROWN 



263 



long," was exemplified in him. His work, he was in 
faith, would bear much fruit in the realm of slavery ; " I 
have many opportunities for faithful plain-dealing with 
the more powerful, influential, and intelligent classes in 
this region, which. I trust are not entirely misimproved," 
lie wrote. The spirit in which he entered the new field is 
well exemplified in the reply to a Quaker lady who wrote 
him expressing her sympathy for his condition: "And 
may the Lord reward you a thousand fold for the kind 
feeling you express toward me; but more especially for 
your fidelity to the 'poor that cry, and those that have no 
help.' For this I am a prisoner in bonds. It is solely 
my own fault, in a military point of view, that we met 
with our disaster. I mean that I mingled with our pris- 
oners and so far sympathized with them and their families 
that I neglected my duty in other respects. But God's 
will, not mine, be done. You know that Christ once 
armed Peter. So also in my case I think He put a sword 
into my hand, and there continued it so long as He saw 
best, and then kindly took it from me. I mean when I 
first went to Kansas. I wish you could know with what 
cheerfulness I am now wielding the 'sword of the Spirit' 
on the right hand and on the left. I bless God that it 
proves 'mighty to the pulling down of strongholds.' ' 
And to his brother he wrote : "I am quite cheerful in 
view of my approaching end, — being fully persuaded that 
I am worth inconceivably more to hang than for any 
other purpose." 

He was loaded w r ith fetters — chained to the floor of 
his prison. Armed guards walked before his dungeon- 
door day and night, and they had orders to shoot him 



264 



TWENTIETH CENTUKY CLASSICS 



at once upon any attempt at rescue. He was wounded and 
sick ; his time to live was limited to a month. He had no 
expectation that it would be extended a minute ; the effort 
for a new trial he regarded as a mere froth of "attorney- 
logic." He was without education; of rhetoric he knew 
nothing. But the world waited for his every sentence, and 
the words most sought for and hung upon came from the 
j)rison at Charlestown, and not from the temple of justice 
there, nor from the Governor's mansion in Richmond. His 
words stirred the North. He was known before he went 
to Harper's Ferry; after his imprisonment there, and 
his condemnation, his name was upon every tongue. Be- 
fore, they knew him as a brave soldier fighting ruffianism 
in Kansas ; now, they saw him stand as a martyr for the 
poor. " I feel just as content to die for God's Eternal 
Truth, and for suffering humanity's, on the scaffold as 
in any other way ; and I do not say this from any disposi- 
tion to 'brave it out.' No; I would readily own my 
wrong, were I in the least convinced of it." In this spirit 
he spent his last days: "Under all these terrible calami- 
ties, I feel quite cheerful in the assurance that God reigns 
and will overrule all for His glory and the best possible 
good. I feel no consciousness of guilt in the matter, nor 
even mortification on account of my imprisonment and 
irons." He encourages his family in this same letter: 
" Never forget the poor, nor think anything you bestow 
on them to be lost to you. . . . Remember them that 
are in bonds as bound with them. . . . ' These light 
afflictions, which are but for a moment, shall work out 
for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.' ' 
And he adds in the postscript: "Yesterday, November 2, 



JOHN BROWN 



265 



I was sentenced to be hanged on December 2, next. Do 
not grieve on my account. I am still quite cheerful." 

His wife desired very much to visit him. This he at 
first opposed, on account of the feeling against him in 
Charlestown and the fear that she would be insulted and 
insolently treated. But on the 16th of November he 
wrote : " If you feel sure that you can endure the trials 
and the shock which will be unavoidable (if you come), 
I should be most glad to see you once more. ... If 
you do come, defer your journey till about the 27th or 
28th of this month." 

John Brown rejoiced that " he was counted worthy to 
suffer in God's cause." He wrote to T. B. Musgrove: 
"Men cannot imprison, or chain, or hang the soul. I go 
joyfully in behalf of millions that 'have no rights' that 
this great and glorious, this Christian Kepublic 'is bound 
to respect.' Strange change in morals, political as well as 
Christian, since 1776 ! I look forward to other changes to 
take place in God's good time, fully believing that 'the 
fashion of this world passeth away.' " This was his con- 
stant theme. He wrote his cousin, the Kev. Luther Hum- 
phrey : " I suppose I am the first since the landing of 
Peter Brown from the ' Mayflower' that has either been 
sentenced to imprisonment or to the gallows. But, my 
dear old friend, let not that fact alone grieve you. You 
cannot have forgotten how and where our grandfather 
fell in 1776, and that he, too, might have perished on the 
scaffold had circumstances been but a very little different. 
The fact that a man dies under the hand of an executioner 
(or otherwise) has but little to do with his true character, 
as I suppose. John Rogers perished at the stake, a great 



VQG TWENTIETH CEXTUEY CLASSICS 

and good man, as I suppose ; but bis doing so does not 
prove tbat any other man who has died in the same way 
was good or otherwise. . . . No part of my life has 
been more happily spent than that I have spent here; and 
I humbly trust that no part has been spent to better pur- 
pose. I would not say this boastingly, but thanks be unto 
God, who giveth us the victory through grace. 

" I should be sixty years old were I to live to May 9, 
IS 60. I have enjoyed much of life as it is, and have been 
remarkably prosperous, having early learned to regard the 
welfare and prosperity of others as my own. I have never, 
since I can remember, required a great amount of sleep; 
so that I conclude that I have already enjoyed full an 
average number of working-hours with those who reach 
their threescore years and ten. I have not yet been driven 
to the use of glasses, but can see to read and write quite 
comfortably. But more than that, I have generally en- 
joyed remarkably good health. I might go on to recount 
unnumbered and unmerited blessings, among which would 
be some very severe afflictions, and those the most needed 
blessings of all. And now, when I think how easily I 
might be left to spoil all I have done or suffered in the 
cause of freedom, I hardly dare to wish another voyage, 
even if I had the opportunity." 

There were matters of concern to him now (about the 
20th of November) taking place in and about Charles- 
town. Incendiary fires destroyed buildings almost every 
night. And Governor Wise was in daily receipt of threat- 
ening letters. John Brown had no friends in the vicinity 
of Charlestown, but he felt sure that it would be charged 



207 

JOHN BROWN 



that his friends caused the fires. They were doubtless 
kindled by persons who desired to keep the people m a 
frenzy against the invaders, that a rescue or a pardon 
would be impossible. Some foolish and mistaken friend 
in the North may have written letters of ominous import 
to Governor Wise, but no one regretted it so much as did 

John Brown. 

He retained his interest, in the affairs of the little farm 
in the gloomy woods of the North, and complains that 
they do not write him whether any of their crops had ma- 
tured or not. His thoughts were never of himself: "I have 
no sorrow either as to the result, only for my poor wife and 
children," he wrote a minister, November 23d. And to 
this minister he also wrote, " You may wonder, Are there 
no ministers of the gospel here? I answer, No. There 
are no ministers of Christ here. These ministers who 
profess to be Christian, and hold slaves or advocate slav- 
ery, I cannot abide them. My knees will not bend in 
prayer with them while their hands are stained with the 
blood of souls." He said to the others that the prayers of 
such ministers were an abomination to his God. 

It was made known to John Brown before he died 
that friends would aid in the education of his children. 
When consulted about this matter he always made prac- 
tical replies, and was never once tempted to suggest for 
them anything more than the useful. The industrious 
housewife is the foundation upon which rests the Kepub- 
lic, not upon the women of fashion, wealth, ease and 
leisure. These care for nothing but vanity. They are the 
butterflies of our country, and are entirely useless. But 
the wife who bears and brings up children, who cooks 



268 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

their food, designs their clothing, weeps with them, prays 
with them, rejoices with them, carries them and their 
troubles in her own life day by day, — she is the founda- 
tion-stone of American liberty. On this subject he wrote: 
" I feel disposed to leave the education of my dear children 
to their mother, and to those dear friends who bear the 
burden of it; only expressing my earnest hope that they 
may all become strong, intelligent, expert, industrious, 
Christian housekeepers. I would wish that, together with 
other studies, they may thoroughly study Dr. Franklin's 
' Poor Richard.' I want them to become matter-of-fact 
women." 

John Brown's wife visited him; she was permitted to 
eat dinner with him in his cell. His body was delivered 
to her after his execution. 

There is little more to be said. John Brown died as 
he had lived — brave, and free from fear of any kind. 
On the morning of his execution he took a tender but 
cheerful farewell of his companions in bonds and in 
arms. He gave them each a small coin, except Hazlett. 
He visited Stevens last: "Good-by, Captain," he said; 
"I know you are going to a better land." "I know I am," 
replied Brown. 

John Brown was put into a furniture wagon, in which 
was his own black-walnut coffin ; the jailer, Mr. Avis, 
who had been very kind to Brown, and the driver, a man 
named Hawks, being the other occupants. The wagon 
was surrounded by cavalry, which escorted it to the field 
where the gallows was standing, something like half a mile 
away. Here there were a large number of soldiers going 
through military maneuvers, and assembled to prevent 



JOHN BBOWN 269 

the rescue of Brown. He was calm, perfectly self-pos- 
sessed. He was asked if lie thought he could endure the 
ordeal, and replied, " I can endure almost anything but 
parting from friends; that is very hard." In speaking 
of fear, on. the road to the scaffold, he said: "It has 
been a characteristic of me, from infancy, not to suffer 
from physical fear. I have suffered a thousand times 
more from bashfulness than from fear." " You are a 
game man, Captain Brown," said an attendant. He re- 
plied, "Yes, I was so trained up; it was one of the lessons 
of my mother; but it is hard to part from friends, though 
newly made." " You are more cheerful than I am, Cap- 
tain Brown," said his friend. The stern old hero replied, 
" Yes, I ought to be." 

The wagon halted at the scaffold, and the troops opened 
file. Brown descended from the wagon, saluted the Mayor 
and Mr. Hunter, and ascended the scaffold stairs. I shall 
let an eye-witness describe the execution. 

" His demeanor was intrepid, without being braggart. 
John Brown's manner gave no evidence of tim- 
idity. He stood upon the scaffold but a short time, giving 
brief adieus to those about him, when he was properly 
pinioned, the white cap drawn over his face, the noose 
adjusted and attached to the hook above, and he was 
moved, blindfolded, a few steps forward. It was curious 
to note how the instincts of nature operated to make him 
careful in putting out his feet, as if afraid he would walk 
off the scaffold. The man who stood unblenched on the 
brink of eternity, was afraid of falling a few feet to the 
ground ! 

" Everything was now in readiness. The sheriff asked 



2 70 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



the prisoner if he should give him a private signal before 
the fatal moment. lie replied, in a voice that sounded to 
me unnaturally natural, — so composed was its tone, and 
so distinct its articulation, — that 'it did not matter to him, 
if only they would not keep him too long waiting.' He 
was kept waiting, however; the troops that had formed 
his escort, had to be put into their proper position, and 
while this was going on he stood for some ten or fifteen 
minutes blindfolded, the rope about, his neck, and his feet 
on the treacherous platform, expecting instantly the fatal 
act,; but he stood for this comparatively long time upright 
as a soldier in position, and motionless. I was close to 
him, and watched him narrowly, to see if I could detect 
any signs of shrinking or trembling in his person, but 
there was none. Once I thought I saw his knees tremble, 
hut it was only the wind blowing his loose trousers. His 
lirnmess Avas subjected to still further trial by hearing 
Colonel Smith announce to the sheriff, l We are all ready, 
Mr. Campbell.' The sheriff did not hear or did not com- 
prehend, and in a louder tone the same announcement was 
made. But the culprit still stood steady until the sheriff, 
descending the flight of steps, with a well-directed blow 
of a sharp hatchet severed the rope that held up the trap- 
door, which instantly sank sheer beneath him. He fell 
about three feet; and the man of strong and bloody hand, 
of fierce passions, of iron will, of wonderful vicissitudes, 
the terrible partisan of Kansas, the capturer of the United 
States Arsenal at Harper's Ferry, the would-be Catiline 
of the South, the demi-god of the abolitionists, the man 
execrated and lauded, damned and prayed for, the man 
who, in his motives, his means, his plans, and his sue- 



.KMIN IIEOWN 



271 



cesses, must ever be a wonder, a puzzle and a mystery, 
John Brown, was hanging between heaven and earth."' 

This was written by J. T. L. Preston, of the Military 
College of Lexington, Virginia, a few hours after the exe- 
cution. He adds: "lit all that array there was not, I 
suppose, one throb of sympathy for the offender. Yet the 
mystery was awful — to see the human form thus treated 
by men — to see life suddenly stopped in its current, and 
to ask one's self the question without answer, 'And what 
then.?' " 

John Brown's body was taken to North Elba. As it 
was lowered into the grave the preacher repeated the 
w<»rds of Paul : 

"I have fought, the good right; I have finished my 
course; I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up 
for me a crown of righteousness, wdiich the Lord, the 
righteous Judge, shall give me; and not to me only, but 
unto all that love His appearing." 



The South always maintained that the at lack on Har- 
per's Ferry was the beginning of the Civil War. On 
March 30th, 1860, Victor Hugo wrote: 

" Slavery in all its forms will disappear. What the 
South slew last December was not John Brown, but Slav- 
ery. Henceforth, no matter what President Buchanan 
may say in his shameful message, the American Union 
must be considered dissolved. Between the North and the 
South stands the gallows of Brown. Union is no longer 
possible : such a crime cannot be shared." 

John A. Andrew was the war Governor of Massachu- 
setts. When John Brown was executed he said of him: 



272 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

" Whatever may be thought of John Brown's acts, John 
Brown himself was right." 

The world acquiesces in the verdict thus rendered, and 
accepts it as true. 

MURAT HALSTEAD'S DESCRIPTION OF THE EXECUTION 
OF JOHN BROWN. 
[This sketch was written by the eminent journalist, Murat 
Halstead, for the New York Independent. It was published in the 
Topeka Mail and Breeze, December 9, 1898.] 

The execution of John Brown was on the second of 
December, 1859 ; the scene, in a field a furlong south of 
Oharlestown, seven miles from Harper's Ferry. The sen- 
sation caused by the John Brown raid was something won- 
derful. The excitement of the wdiole country was out of 
all proportion to the material incidents. The shock was 
because the feeling of the people that the slavery question 
had reached an acute stage and demanded uncompromising 
attention, was general, and there was apprehension that 
there were conditions upon the country of "unmerciful 
disaster" — a public sensibility that an immense catas- 
trophe was impending. 

As a correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial, to 
write the story of the hanging of old John Brown, I car- 
ried letters from Dr. Dandridge, cousin of Colonel Wash- 
ington, to that gentleman, and from the Hon. George H. 
Pendleton, to the superintendent of the Harper's Ferry 
rifle-works of the United States. On the journey I fell 
in with the Baltimore police scouts, who by command of 
the Governor of Virginia had explored "the abolition 
counties of Ohio" in search of military organizations, 



JOHN BROWN 273 

made up in violation of the peace and dignity of the 
United States, for "another raid on Virginia." 

When we reached Harper's Ferry the station was in the 
hands of the military, and I was driven about at the point 
of the bayonet for some time before finding a place to 
stand and wait a few minutes. There was a hole ragged 
with splinters at the corner of the station-house, con- 
structed of plank, but put together with tongue-and-groove, 
said to mark the course of "the ball from a yager with 
which old Brown killed a man." Inside Brown's fort 
was a plain red stain on the whitewashed brick wall, the 
blood of Brown when, overpowered, he was wounded with 
a cutlass and thrust down with a strong hand. There was 
a curved red streak and a few long hairs where the gashed 
head of the old man had been rubbed against the whit- 
ened bricks. The superintendent of the rifle-works was 
a cautious official. He took a member of the Legislature 
of Pennsylvania and myself in his carriage, and putting 
on a belt with two revolvers we were driven along a good 
turnpike through a pleasant country to the county seat, 
where Brown was tried and was the next day to be exe- 
cuted. By the roadside there were marks of fire, the 
burning of stacks, and the explanation, " The niggers have 
burned the stacks of one of the jurors who found Brown 
guilty." There was no reference to the fact that the su- 
perintendent took his pistols with him for a daylight drive 
over seven miles of turnpike through a highly cultivated 
country. That was taken as a matter of course. There 
was greater alarm among the people of Virginia than could 
be accounted for by comparison with the experience of 

communities into which the slave element did not enter. 
— 18 



274 



TWENTIETH CEXTUKY CLASSICS 



It was doubtless that deep sense of insecurity that widened 
into awful alarms at the suggestion of slave insurrections 
— the fact that society was permeated with stories of West- 
Indian wars of races, especially the traditions, more terri- 
ble than history, of the San Domingo horrors. The town, 
then and always to be distinguished as the place of the 
trial of John Brown, and his death, was crowded with the 
troops of Virginia, and there was a marked absence of the 
people of the surrounding country. The uniforms of the 
militia of Virginia were as various as the companies were 
numerous. There was no uniformity of dress or weapons. 
There were a troop of cavalry, a battery of field guns, and 
about two thousand infantry, the whole under the com- 
mand of General Taliaferro, whose headquarters were at 
the Washington House. There was the palpable excite- 
ment of conscious history-making, and trifling incidents 
magnified by common consent. 

The fact about myself best known was that I had a 
letter from Dr. Dandridge to Colonel Lewis Washington, 
and one from George H. Pendleton to the Harper's Ferry 
superintendent. My connection with an "abolition news- 
paper" was quite subordinated, but there were many in- 
quiries as to my "views" of the John Brown raid, and I 
did not insist upon attempting to vindicate the old farmer, 
so suddenly and strangely a world's hero. Indeed, the 
close contact with the events of the raid made it difficult 
to resist the impression that Brown was an unbalanced 
man, one whose exaltation was akin to insanity. The 
philosophy, the philanthropy, the martyrdom, the religion 
of humanity, the spiritual sanctification, and immense 
romantic and tragic interpretations placed upon the raid 



JOIIX BEOWN 



275 



of " The Man of Osawatomie" by Victor Hugo and Ralph 
Waldo Emerson, the latter declaring that "the gallows was 
made glorious like the cross," had in the immediate pres- 
ence of the miserable skirmishing and the shedding of the 
blood of men who were, by all the customary tests, kindly 
disposed to be orderly, neighborly, humane, become ob- 
scure, belonging to the sentimental, the imaginative, and 
the impossible. 

Late in the evening Mrs. Brown arrived in a dingy 
hack, escorted by the horsemen who became known in the 
war that was on two years later as "the Black Horse Cav- 
alry." As the carriage approached the jail the artillery, 
which had been arranged on either side of the door, was 
trundled across the street and turned about, the muzzles 
open-mouthed upon the prison. There was much parade 
and shuffling of military figures in the execution of this 
maneuver, and then Mrs. Brown was taken to her hus- 
band's cell, when he was reported to have repeated to her 
often the admonition, "My dear, you must keep your 
sperrets up" — "sperrets" pronounced as here spelled; but 
a very strict and close guard was kept upon the pair. 

As the evening wore on, General Taliaferro was seated 
surrounded by his staff, in the public room of the hotel. 
A young man, tall and lithe, and wearing a military dress, 
rushed up to him and said hurriedly in my hearing: 
" General, I am told, sir, and believe, that Henry Ward 
Beecher is coming here to-morrow to pray on the scaffold 
with old Brown, and I pledge you my word if he does he 
shall be hanged along with Brown." The General stared 
coldly and said with deliberation and severe dignity: 
" If Mr. Beecher comes, as yon say, I pledge my word of 



276 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



honor, sir, that while I live not a hair of his head shall be 
harmed, sir ; not one hair of his head shall be harmed." 
On the morning of the execution the troops were early 
stirring. The murmur of camps filled the air. There 
were no visitors trailing along the roads, to be witnesses of 
the solemn function. It was forbidden. The people far 
and near were ordered to be alert at home. Therefore, 
when the hollow square of the military companies w;is 
formed about the scaffold there was not even a fringe of 
civil spectators. There were reporters, surgeons, three or 
four politicians of distinction, and one woman on the root' 
of a house nearly a quarter of a mile distant. The Hon. 
James M. Ashley was in the town with Col. Henderson of 
Kansas, and introduced him as "the worst of the border 
ruffians," an announcement usually received with appro- 
bation of the humor in it and of the fact also. Ashley had 
just dropped in from the West, and was held to be of those 
interested in the care of Mrs. Brown and her Quaker es- 
cort, from Philadelphia. A story has been largely circu- 
lated that as Brown left the jail he kissed a colored child, 
and there are paintings and poetry to that effect. When 
he stepped out of the prison there was not a group other 
than military in sight. I was not on the spot at the mo- 
ment, but saw the street before the jail filled with guns 
and soldiers and horses, staff officers and officials, and no 
one else during the morning. I had walked, before Brown 
came out, to the vicinity of the scaffold where the militia 
companies were marching into the positions assigned them. 
The most striking horseman on the field, Turner Ashley, 
galloped around bearing orders and giving directions, 
mounted on a spotted stallion with a wonderful mane and 



JOHN BBOWN 



277 



tail, flowing like white silk from neck and rump, almost 
sweeping the ground. The Colonel and his horse — and the 
horsemanship of the Colonel was worthy his steed — were a 
gallant show. Ashley was killed in battle, defending for 
his State the Valley of the Shenandoah. There seemed to 
be no attainable end of the evolution of the troops in prep- 
aration for the ceremony. I distinctly remember in the 
movement the gaunt, severe figure of an officer whose com- 
mancl was a company of bright boys. It was the contrast 
between the stern man and the gay youths that formed a 
picture for me, and I heard the word as they passed — 
" Lexington Cadets." The man was Prof. Jackson, later 
the Confederate hero, " Stonewall." 

The day was extremely beautiful and mild. The highly 
cultivated farms, the village, the broad landscape, browned 
by the frosts of November, framed in the ranges of the 
Blue Kidge — blue indeed, a daintily defined wall, of a 
blue shade more delicate than the sky. Though it was 
"the day of Austerlitz" as the days of the season are 
marked, the clover in the stubble was green, and the 
ground so warm and dry the reporters reclined upon it 
with comfort and exchanged observations in the spirit of 
levity with which the representatives of the press relieve, 
when witnesses of true tragedies, the strains upon their 
vitality. 

The procession from the jail to the scaffold was bril- 
liant. The General commanding had a staff more re- 
splendent than that of Field Marshal Moltke and King 
William, when they rode together over their battlefields 
in France. Old John Brown was seated on his coffin in 
the bed of a wagon, of the fashion farmers call a wood 



278 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



wagon, an open body and no cover. He wore a battered 
black slouch hat, the rim turned squarely up in front, 
giving it the aspect of a cocked hat. This was that his 
vision might not be impeded, and ho looked with evident 
enjoyment upon the country, saying it was the first time 
he had the pleasure of seeing it. J I is words were repeated 
at the time. The man I saw as he was in the wagon and 
as he was helped upon the scaffold — he had about a 
dozen steps to ascend — his arms pinioned by ropes at the 
elbows, tied firmly, so that his hands were free while the 
upper arms were bound at his w y aist. He wore a baggy 
brown coat and trousers, and red carpet slippers over bine 
yarn socks, and stood firmly but in an easy attitude on the 
trap-door, that was sustained by a rope. Then a stout 
white cord of cotton, provided by some cotton planters who 
thought there was propriety in it — something symbolical 
in it — was placed over the iron-gray, sturdy head, the 
noose dropped easily around his neck and tightened so that 
it would not slip, but so as not to give physical discomfort. 
The face of the old man was toward the east, the morning 
light on it, and the figure perfectly in dress and pose, and 
all appointments, that of a typical Western farmer — a 
serions person upheld by an idea of duty — the expression 
of his features that of a queer mingling of the grim, and, 
to use a rural word, the peart. The white cap was pulled 
down, and still the troops were moving, falling into a 
hollow square — a formation that had not been rehearsed. 
This became tedious. Brown asked that there should be 
no delay. The suspense was distressing, and from the 
ascent of the scaffold to the fall of the trap and the sharp 
jerk upon the white cord, the time was nearly eighteen 



JOHN BROWN 



279 



minutes. This was not, though often stated, with the pur- 
pose of torture, but the delay of the military to get into 
assigned places. Brown's hands gave the only sign of 
emotion that possessed him. He was rubbing his thumbs 
hard but slowly on the inside of his forefingers, between 
the first and second joints, as one braces himself with a 
nervous grasp upon the arms of a dentist's chair when a 
tooth is to be drawn. It is no wonder Brown asked the 
sheriff about the waiting. There was deep stillness as 
the form of the victim plunged six feet and the rope 
twanged as its burden lengthened a little and shivered. 
Then the body began to whirl as the cord slackened and 
twisted, and the rapid movement caused the short skirts of 
the coat to flutter as in a wind. About a quarter of an 
hour was spent by the surgeons climbing the stairs and 
holding the suspended body to their ears, listening to see 
if the heart continued to act. One of the reporters was 
moved to say, as if he had prepared a deliverance and 
was getting it off contrary to a better judgment, "Gentle- 
men, the honor of old Virginia has been vindicated." 
There was no response to the sentiment. 

The road to Harper's Ferry was soon filled with car- 
riages at high speed. There was dust flying. In the yard 
of a farm-house were a half-dozen lads playing soldier, 
one beating a small drum. This was the highway along 
which more than any other surged to and fro the armies of 
the Nation and the Confederacy. Colonel Washington, 
while on General Lee's staff, was killed in western Vir- 
ginia by an Indiana sharpshooter, and I remember well 
his stately presence, not unworthy to represent the name 
he bore, and his courtesy and kindness to one who repre- 



280 TWENTIETH CENTUEY CLASSICS 

sented a newspaper and held there was no cause more 
sacred in the world than that of the freedom of the Terri- 
tories and the extinction of slavery; and the death of 
Ashley, Pate and Wise seemed a grievous sacrifice of man- 
hood. 

Something more than ten years later, August, 1870, in 
eastern France, I was with the German invaders of the 
fair land of Lorraine, and one day as I looked upon a 
division of the GrancT Army of the Red Prince, a mon- 
strous mass of men with the spikes of their helmets and 
their hayonets glittering over them under a vast tawny 
cloud of dust, I heard with amazement a deep-throated 
burst of song in English, and it was : 

"John Brown's body is moldering in the ground, 
But his soul is marching on. 

Glory, Hallelujah!" 

The German invaders often sang magnificently while 
marching. German soldiers in our army in the war 
of the States returning to the Fatherland to fight the 
French taught their comrades the splendid marching-song 
which the legions of the North sang along the historic 
highways of Virginia, that Father Abraham's boys were 
coming and the soul of John Brown was marching on. 
There is a bust of gold of Brown, presented his widow by 
Victor Hugo, in the State Museum at Topeka, Kansas, 
shown by the venerable superintendent, with an apology, 
for it is a bad portraiture of the Hero of Osawatomie 
and martyr of Harper's Ferry. It is the only likeness 
of him giving the chief characteristic of his countenance 
on the morning of his last day that I have seen, except in 
the sketches taken for Harper's Weekly on the spot, by 



JOHN BROWN 281 

Porte Crayon. The French makers of the golden bust 
must have caught the keen lines of this artist's pencil, 
showing the weirdness that had crept into Brown's strong- 
face when his eyes beheld unearthly scenes, his mind wan- 
dering in the regions on the boundary of two worlds— he 
must have seen cloud-capped domes not rounded by human 
hands — invisible by mortal eyes unless introspectively. 
One wonders whether the old farmer, as he waited on the 
scaffold, could have beheld as in a dream— as one sees 
at night in stormy darkness, when there is a flame of 
lightning, a misty mountain-top — a vision incredible, but 
not unsubstantial, of his own apotheosis and immortality. 

SENATOR INGALLS ON JOHN BROWN. 

The following quotation is from the article prepared 
by Senator John James Ingalls for the North American 
Review. After reviewing the sublime sayings of John 
Brown, Senator Ingalls says: 

" What immortal and dauntless courage breathes in this 
procession of stately sentences ; what fortitude ; what pa- 
tience; what faith; what radiant and eternal hope! No 
pagan philosopher, no Hebrew prophet, no Christian 
martyr, ever spoke in loftier and more heroic strains than 
this "coward and murderer,"* who declared, from near 
the brink of an ignominious grave, that there was no 
acquisition so splendid as moral purity; no inheritance 
so desirable as personal liberty; nothing on this earth 
nor in the world to come so valuable as the soul, whatever 
the hue of its habitation; no impulse so noble as an un- 

*This article wa- witten in reply to one published by David N. Utter, In which 
Mr. Utter had called John Brown a "coward and murderer." i 



282 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

conquerable purpose to love truth, and an invincible deter- 
mination to obey God. 

"Carlyle says that when any great change in human 
society is to be wrought, God raises up men to whom that 
change is made to appear as the one thing needful and 
absolutely indispensable. Scholars, orators, poets, phi- 
lanthropists, play their parts, but the crisis comes at last 
through some one who is stigmatized as a fanatic by his 
contemporaries, and whom the supporters of the systems 
he assails crucify between thieves or gibbet as a felon. 
The man who is not afraid to die for an idea is the most 
potential and convincing advocate. 

"Already the great intellectual leaders of the move- 
ment for the abolition of slavery are dead. The student 
of the future will exhume their orations, arguments, and 
state papers, as a part of the subterranean history of the 
epoch. The antiquarian will dig up their remains from 
the alluvial drift of the period, and construe their relations 
to the great events in which they were actors. But the 
three men of this era who will loom forever against the 
remotest horizon of time, as the pyramids above the voice- 
less desert, or mountain-peaks over the subordinate plains, 
are Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, and Old John 
Brown of Osawatomie." 



"My task is done — my song hath ceased — my theme 
Has died into an echo; it is fit 
The spell should break of this protracted dream. 
The torch shall be extinguished which hath lit 
My midnight lamp — and what is writ is writ. — 

Farewell! a word that must bo, and hath been — 

A sound which makes us linger; — yet — farewell! 

Ye! who have traced the pilgrim to the scene 

Which is his last, if in your memories dwell 

A thought which once was his, if on ye swell 

A single recollection, not in vain 

He wore his sandal-shoon and scallop-shell; 

Farewell! with him alone may rest the pain 

If such there were — with you, the moral of his strain!' 



(283) 



THE STORY OF 

HUMAN PROGRESS 



BY... 



FRANK W. BLACKMAR, Ph. D. 



Professor of History and Sociology in the 
Kansas University. 



A brief history of Civilization. An Elementary Treatise 

on the Progress of the Human Race, designed 

for a brief survey of the whole field. 



375 Pages. Full Cloth. Price, $1.00. 



The work is arranged in the following logical steps — 

1. The Nature of Civilization. 

2. The First Steps of Progress. 

3. The Dawn of Civilization. 

4. Western Civilization. 

5. Modern Progress. 

A book of thorough treatment ; of the highest excellence ; of 
the latest and most advanced attainments in its field. It has been 
accorded a flattering reception by educators, and it grows in popu- 
lar favor. 



The Civil War 

BY CAMPAIGNS. 



....BY.... 

ELI G. FOSTER. 



A New and Valuable Book in a field where one is much needed. 
Intended to cover this interesting- period in the history of our 
country on the entirely new and novel plan of Campaigns, -with 
Campaign Maps. For teachers and all those desirous of arriving 
at correct conclusions from the study of the Great Conflict in a 
systematic way. 



One Volume, 300 Pages. Full Cloth. $1.00, prepaid. 



The chief difficulty in teaching this subject in the chronological 
order is, that the teacher finds much difficulty in ascertaining and com- 
prehending the true relations of campaigns to each other, and to the 
general conduct of the war. The mind becomes overburdened with 
facts, dates and names bearing but little relation to each other. Before 
the thread of a campaign is again found in the old manner of study, its 
importance has escaped the grasp of the pupil, and it is necessary to go 
back and review before the recitation can proceed. To remedy this evil 
is one of the objects of this book. 

The work contains a full set of colored campaign maps. Among 
other things it includes — 

1. Causes and events leading to the war. 

2. A history of the Navy, and naval battles of the war. 

3. Financial measures to provide revenues for the war. 

4. The opening of the Mississippi Kiver. 

5. Grant's campaign in the West. 

6. Bragg's Invasion of Kentucky. 

7. The Army of the Potomac. 

8. Sherman's March to the Sea. 

9. All raids and campaigns of any consequence. 



Outlines of 

School Management 



By WALTER GIDINGHAGEN, B. L., 

Professor of Pedagogy in Campbell University, Holton, Kansas. 



A work embodying the latest accepted and approved methods, 
theories and practices in School Management. A work for 
teachers and those qualifying for teachers. 



90 Pages. Cloth 40 cents, Paper 25 cents; prepaid. 



This volume aims to state briefly and clearly the principles of school management, 
and leaves the elaboration of the work to the teacher as he progresses in his work. It 
is a compilation of the methods used by the best educators and the best educational 
institutions in the country. To otherwise avail himself of the information contained 
in this book would require that the teacher have a very extensive library, the essen- 
tials of which are here condensed into a small and inexpensive volume. 

The mission of the book is to aid in quickening an interest in the study of the 
principles of education. It is, too, prepared with special reference to the needs of 
teachers and those qualifying for teachers. 

The duties of principals and superintendents are succinctly stated, and some of the 
best educators of our country have contributed to this department of the work. These 
officials will find here many suggestions, the following of which is considered indispen- 
sable by the most advanced systems of education. This may be said of all other 
departments of the work. Boards of Education can find in this work many suggestions 
concerning school buildings and their construction and arrangement, which, if fol- 
lowed, would save much of the money expended in altering and changing unsuitable 
buildings. 

The price puts it within easy reach of all. Every teacher and every one expecting 
to be a teacher should study this little work. 

Crane & Company, Topeka. 



OCT 1 WW 

PUBLISHERS' NOTICE. 



The two numbers of the Classic, "Joim LVowu," will be bound in bunk form, with 
very copious notes and some additional text. The notes are full, and it Is believed 
they are indispensable to a right understanding of the Territorial history of Kansas. 
Matters are discussed in them not mentioned in the Classics ; this is especially true of 
the criticism of authorities. The notes give the text its full meaning — something it 
cannot always convey in their absence. A complete index will be added to the bound 
volume, making it a work of 350 to 400 pages. 

This will be the latest and most complete and valuable Life of John Brown pub- 
lished. Everything the research of the last fifteen years has brought to light will be 
found in this work. It places the old hero and martyr in his right place in the history 
of Kansas and the country. It shows the presumptuous and unfounded claims of Ell 
Thayer to the honor of settling and saving Kansas to be pure arrogance and effrontery. 
It proves that he did only a very small part of the work — that he was scarcely a factor. 
He was as often an obstacle as a help. It is conclusively shown that the attacks of 
Thayer and others, more bent on making money by the settlement of Kansas than any- 
thing else, were inspired by jealousy, hate, personal spites and grudges. They hoped 
to add to their own lean laurels by defaming, abusing and misrepresenting John Brown. 
They were non-combatants; no one ever heard of one of them going to the assistance 
of a neighbor beset by ruffians. Not one of them ever carried a gun while the country 
was overrun by murderous villains bent upon the extermination of Free-State men. 
One of these chief defamers, Q. W. Brown, was assigned a gun, but admits that he lost it. 

Every Kansan should have this great work. We have made the price very low. Fill 
out the following coupon and return it to us with $1.00. We will send you the work 
postpaid. 



Crane & Company, Publishers, 
Topeka, Kansas. 



., 1900. 



CRANE & COMPANY, 

Topeka, Kansas. 

Gentlemen: — I hereby inclose $1 for JOHN BROWN, by Will- 
iam E. Connelley, to be delivered, prepaid. 

If more than one 

copy is desired, Name, 

please indicate 

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weiuietb Century 
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June, 1900. 



JOHN 

Brown 



Vol. I. 



Issued Monthly. 



Price, $1 per year. 



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RANE & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS, 
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Issued monthly, under the editorial supervision of W. M. Davidson, 
Superintendent of Schools of the city of Topeka. 

The object is to furnish special reading of a high order for the use of 
high schools, teachers, and for select reading. 

The first year's work will be divided into three groups, and be given 
entirely to the following local series : 

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2. Jim Lane of Kansas. 

3. Eli Thayer and the Emigrant Aid Society. 

4. Territorial Governors of Kansas. 

Literature. 1. Kansas in Poetry and Song. 

2. Selections from Ironquill. 

3. Kansas in Literature. 

4. Kansas in History. 

Nature . . 1. Plants and Flowers of Kansas. 
Study 2. Birds of Kansas. 
Group. 3. Geography of Kansas. 
4. Minerals of Kansas. 

Subscription price will be $1.00 per year in advance, postage paid. Sin- 
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We invite subscriptions. No expense will be spared by the editorial 
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SOME DESIRABLE BOOKS. 



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ioneer from Kentucky. Col. Henry Inman. Full cloth $o 75 

•rican and British Authors, (a Text-book on Literature.) Frank V. Irish. 

pages. Cloth * 35 

rimer of Memory Gems. George Washington Hoss, A. M., LL. D. Full cloth — 25 
alo Jones's Forty Years of Adventure. Compiled by Colonel Henry Inman. Full 

.th a °° 

damentals of the English Language, or Orthography and Orthoepy. 

ank V. Irish. Cloth 5° 

»t Salt Lake Trail. Col. Henry Inman 2 5° 

nshel's Language Lessons and Elementary Grammar. E. J. Hoenshel, A. M. . . 30 

nshel's Advanced Grammar. E. J. Hoenshel, A.M 60 

nshel's Complete English Grammar. E. J. Hoenshel, A.M 5° 

and Manual to Hoenshel's Grammar. E. J. Hoenshel, A.M 5° 

tory of the Birds of Kansas. Col. N. S. Goss. Large octavo, 692 pages, 100 full- 
go illustrations. Full cloth, $5. Full Morocco 6 00 

tory of Kansas. Clara H. Hazelrigg. 298 pages. Full cloth i 00 

sas Methodist Pulpit. J. W. D. Anderson. 1 vol., 297 pages. Full cloth 100 

ure Study — a Reader. Mrs. Lucy Langdon Wilson, Ph. D 35 

ure Study in Elementary Schools — a Manual for Teachers. Mrs. Lucy Lang- 

n Wilson, Ph. D 9° 

mal Institute Reader. Wasson and Ramsey. Paper, 25c. Cloth — . 40 

Santa Fe Trail. Col. Henry Inman 2 50 

lines of Logic. Jacob Westlund. Cloth 5° 

.roads — Their Construction, Cost, Operation, and Control. Jesse Hardesty. 

per 5° 

arence Manual and Outlines of United States History. Ell G. Foster. Paper, 

c. Full cloth 4° 

fines of Ironquill. Eugene F. Ware. 324 pages. Full cloth 1 00 

ool Supervision and Maintenance. H. C. Fellow. Full cloth 100 

pping Stone to Singing. Containing E. M. Foote's novel method of Writing, 

nalyzing and Reading Music. E. M. Foote and J. S. Slie 4° 

dent's Standard Dictionary 250 

dent's Standard Dictionary, with Dennison's Index 3 °° 

plemental Methods. Belle Varvel Houston. Full cloth 75 

es of the Trail. Col. Henry Inman. 1 vol., 288 pages. Full cloth I 00 

ichers' and Students' Manual of Arithmetic. J. A. Ferrell, B. S., C. E. Cloth . . 50 

s Civil War by Campaigns. Eli G. Foster 1 00 

; Declaration of Independence, Constitution of the United States, and Con- 

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; Delahoydes, or Boy-Life on the Old Santa Fe Trail. Full cloth 1 00 

? Story of Human Progress — a Brief History of Civilization. Frank W. 

lackmar, Ph. D. 375 pages. Full cloth 1 00 

asured Thoughts Gleaned from the Fields of Literature. Frank V. Irish. 

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5 Wooster Primer. Lizzie E. Wooster 25 

3eka Pen and Camera Sketches. Mary E. Jackson. 1 vol., 200 pages. Full cloth, 100 

ical Outline of Civil Government. W. D. Kuhn. Paper, 25c. Cloth 4° 

inning Orations. A collection of the Winning Orations of the Inter-state Oratorical 

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wcntieib Century 
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Issued Monthly. 



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;RANE & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS, 

110-112 EAST EIGHTH AVENUE, TOPEKA, KAN. 



THE 

TWENTIETH CENTURY 
CLASSICS. 



Issued monthly, under the editorial supervision of W. M. Davidson, 
Superintendent of Schools of the city of Topeka. 

The object is to furnish special reading of a high order for the use of 
high schools, teachers, and for select reading. 

The first year's work will be divided into three groups, and be given 
entirely to the following local series : 

History . . i. John Brown of Kansas. 

2. Jim Lane of Kansas. 

3. Eli Thayer and the Emigrant Aid Society. 

4. Territorial Governors of Kansas. 

Literature. 1. Kansas in Poetry and Song. 

2. Selections from Ironquill. 

3. Kansas in Literature. 

4. Kansas in History. 

Nature . . 1. Plants and Flowers of Kansas. 

Study 2. Birds of Kansas. 

Group. 3. Geography of Kansas. 

4. Minerals of Kansas. 

Subscription price will be $1.00 per year in advance, postage paid. Sin- 
gle numbers, 10 cents. Clubs of six will be entitled to one subscription 
free. 

We invite subscriptions. No expense will be spared by the editorial 
management or by the publishers to make this series of the highest 
standard. 



CRANE & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS, 
TOPEKA. 



SOME DESIRABLE BOOKS. 



ioneer from Kentucky. Col. Henry Inman. Full cloth So 75 

trican and British Authors, (a Text-book on Literature.) Frank V. Irish. 

pages. Cloth * 35 

rimer of Memory Gems. George Washington Hoss, A. M., LL. D. Full cloth — 25 
alo Jones's Forty Years of Adventure. Compiled by Colonel Henry Inman. Full 

th 2 00 

damentals of the English Language, or Orthography and Orthoepy. 

ink V. Irish. Cloth 50 

it Salt Lake Trail. Col. Henry Inman 2 50 

nshel's Language Lessons and Elementary Grammar. E. J. Hoenshel, A. M. . . 30 

nshel's Advanced Grammar. E. J. Hoenshel, A.M 60 

nshel's Complete English Grammar. E. J. Hoenshel, A.M 50 

aad Manual to Hoenshel's Grammar. E. J. Hoenshel, A.M 50 

ory of the Birds of Kansas. Col. N. S. Goss. Large octavo, 692 pages, 100 full- 

»e Illustrations. Full cloth, $5. Full Morocco 6 00 

ory of Kansas. Clara H. Eazelrigg. 298 pages. Full cloth 1 00 

MB Methodist Pulpit. J. W. D. Anderson. 1 vol., 297 pages. Full cloth 100 

ire Study — a Reader. Mrs. Lucy Langdon Wilson, Ph. D 35 

ire Study in Elementary Schools — a Manual for Teachers. Mrs. Lucy Lang- 

1 Wilson, Ph. D 90 

nal Institute Reader. Wasson and Ramsey. Paper, 25c. Cloth 40 

Santa Fe Trail. Col. Henry Inman „ 2 5° 

ines of Logic. Jacob Westlund. Cloth 5° 

roads — Their Construction, Cost, Operation, and Control. Jesse Hardesty. 

per 50 

rence Manual and Outlines of United States History. Ell G. Foster. Paper, 

. Full cloth 40 

mes of Ironqulll. Eugene F. Ware. 324 pages. Full cloth 100 

>ol Supervision and Maintenance. H. C. Fellow. Full cloth 1 00 

ping Stone to Singing. Containing E. M. Foote's novel method of Writing, 

alyzlng and Reading Music. E. M. Foote and J. S. Slle 4° 

ent's Standard Dictionary 250 

ent's Standard Dictionary, with Dennison's Index 3 °o 

>lemental Methods. Belle Varvel Houston. Full cloth 75 

s of the Trail. Col. Henry Inman. 1 vol., 288 pages. Full cloth I 00 

hers' and Students' Manual of Arithmetic. J. A. Ferrell, B. S., 0. E. Cloth .. 50 

Civil War by Campaigns. Eli G. Foster 1 00 

Declaration of Independence, Constitution of the United States, and Con- 

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Delahoydes, or Boy-Life on the Old Santa Fe Trail. Full cloth I 00 

Story of Human Progress — a Brief History of Civilization. Frank W. 

ckmar, Ph. D. 875 pages. Full cloth 1 00 

sured Thoughts Gleaned from the Fields of Literature. Frank V. Irish. 

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Wooster Primer. Lizzie E. Wooster 25 

ka Pen and Camera Sketches. Mary E. Jackson. 1 vol., 200 pages. Full cloth, X 00 

eal Outline of Civil Government. W. D. Kuhn. Paper, 25c. Cloth 40 

aing Orations. A collection of the Winning Orations of the Inter-state Oratorical 

itests, and the biographies of contestants. C. E. Prather. 242 pages. Full cloth.. I 25 



CRANE & COMPANY, TOPEKA, KANSAS. 




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THE TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 
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UNDER THE EDITORIAL SUPERVISION OP 

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